MALIGNITY  EXPOSED ; 


O  R    A 


VINDICATION  OF  BISHOP  CHASE 


AGAINST 


THE  MALICIOUS  ACCUSATIONS 


OF 


AN  ANONYMOUS  PAMPHLET,  PRINTED  IN  ANN-STREET,  N.  Y. 


BY  THE  REV.  SAMUEL  CHASE, 


JUBILEE    COLLEGE 


NEW-YORK: 
STANFORD  AND  SWORDS,  139,  BROADWAY. 


1847. 


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MALIGNITY  EXPOSED ; 


O  R    A 


VINDICATION  OF  BISHOP  CIIASE 


AGAINST 


THE  MALICIOUS  ACCUSATIONS 


O  F 


AN  ANONYMOUS  PAMPHLET,  PRINTED  IN  ANN-STREET,  N.  Y- 


BY  THE  REV.  SAMUEL  CHASJE, 


JUBILEE    COLLEGE. 


NEW-YORK: 
STANFORD  AND  SWORDS,  139,  BROADWAY. 

1847. 


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John  R.  IVTGown,  Printer, 
106,  Fulton-st.  N.  Y. 


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So   t\)t    Strops 

OF  THE  PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH 

IN   THE   UNITED    STATES, 

THIS  VINDICATION 

OF    ONE   OF    THEIR  BRETHREN, 

WHO  HAS  BEEN  WANTONLY  AND  INJURIOUSLY  ASSAILED, 

IS   MOST  RESPECTFULLY   INSCRIBED 

BY   THE  AUTHOR. 


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MALIGNITY  EXPOSED. 


A  Plain  Statement  for  the  consideration  of  the  Friends  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  Diocese  of  Illinois,  the  Rt. 
Rev.  Philander  Chase,  D.  D.,  Bishop ;  drawn  up  some  years  ago, 
but  most  proper  for  the  present  time,  by  one  who  now  rests  from  his 
labors :  with  notes  by  Observer.  New-York :  Turner  &  Lawrence, 
Ann-street.     1846. 

Such  is  the  title-page  of  a  pamphlet  published  some  time  since, 
and  undoubtedly  extensively  circulated  throughout  the  Church  at  large, 
and  especially  in  the  Diocese  of  Illinois.  It  is  only  recently  that  a 
copy,  through  the  kindness  of  a  friend,  was  sent  to  the  writer. 

The  circumstances  under  which  the  work  comes  before  the  public 
beget  in  its  behalf  no  claims  to  attention  or  credence.  Not  only  is 
the  name  of  its  editor  studiously  concealed,  but  even  its  authorship  is 
enshrouded  in  the  obscurity  of  the  grave.  As  to  its  intended  office, 
there  can  be  no  doubt :  it  is  to  originate  and  send  abroad  certain 
statements  and  allegations,  and  hereafter  to  be  adduced  as  evidence 
in  support  of  them  :  it  is  the  embodiment  of  calumnies,  surmises,  and 
insinuations,  which  itself  has  originated  and  called  into  existenGe ; 
it  is,  in  all  respects,  the  murderous  blow  of  the  masked  assassin. 

The  work  in  question,  consisting  of  text  and  notes,  purports  to  be 
the  production  of  two  persons,  and  aims  to  produce  the  impression 
that  the  tenure  by  which  the  property   of  Jubilee  College  is  held, 


6 

affords  no  assurance  that  it  will  be  available  to  the  Church ;  but  that, 
on  the  contrary,  its  "  legal  ownership  will  be  in  the  Bishop's  heirs 
at  law." 

This  is  the  burden  of  the  whole  work,  both  text  and  notes  ;  and  in 
the  effort  to  produce  the  above  impression,  Bishop  Chase  is  assailed 
on  every  hand,  and  in  every  possible  manner,  by  allegations  the  most 
calumnious,  statements  the  most  false,  and  insinuations  the  most  un- 
charitable and  cruel.  Not  only  are  his  public  acts,  in  founding  and 
rearing  up  Jubilee  College,  censured  and  misrepresented  ;  but  even 
the  sanctity  of  his  private  life,  the  privacy  of  his  domestic  arrange- 
ments, are  dragged  before  the  world's  gaze,  and,  either  through 
ignorance  or  malice,  misrepresented  and  ridiculed.  Isolated  para- 
graphs from  various  publications,  detached  from  their  proper  connec- 
tion, with  a  sinister  interpretation,  are  brought  forward  to  show  that 
the  Bishop,  in  the  disbursement  of  funds  intrusted  to  him  for  the  good 
of  the  Church,  whether  contributed  specially  to  the  College  or  appro- 
priated by  the  Board  of  Missions,  has  had  sole  reference  to  the  support 
of  himself  and  family. 

But  notwithstanding  all  this,  had  the  pamphlet  involved  only  per- 
sonal considerations,  it  would  have  provoked  no  answer  :  but  inasmuch 
as  it  involves  the  prosperity  of  Jubilee  College  and  the  advancement 
of  the  Church  in  the  Diocese  of  Illinois,  the  occasion  is  gladly  seized 
for  making  such  statements  as  will  vindicate  the  conduct  of  Bishop 
Chase,  and  afford  an  assurance  to  his  numerous  benefactors  that  their 
liberality  has  not  been  bestowed  in  vain. 

That  the  text  of  the  pamphlet,  or  at  least  its  germ,  was  in  existence 
years  ago,  is  well  known  to  the  friends  of  Jubilee  College.  In  the 
year  1839-40,  the  same  was  industriously  circulated  in  the  south, 
where  Bishop  Chase  was  then  soliciting  contributions. 

The  sole  question  raised  by  its  author  is  that  of  the  tenure  of  the 
College  property,  and  is  called  up  in  these  words :  "  I  believe  he 
"  (Bishop  Chase)  is  acting  in  good  faith  and  with  the  purest  motives ; 
"  but  still  there  is  danger  that  neither  the  buildings  nor  the  lands  will 
"  ever  come  under  the  control  of  the  Church  ;  and  if  they  should  not, 
"  it  would  be  a  serious  blot  upon  his  good  name."  Now  the  same 
question,  i.  e.  the  possibility  of  perpetuating  an  eleemosynary  institu- 
tion without  an  act  of  incorporation,  in  almost  " totidem  verbis"  was 


gratuitously  thrust  upon  the  notice  of  the  friends  of  the  College  at  the 
south  in  1839-40.     Bishop  Chase  at  this  time  had  no  charter,  and 
that  for  the  very  satisfactory  reason  that  the  legislature  of  that  day 
would  have  granted  none  commensurate  with  the  design  and  necessi- 
ties of  the  institution.     Under  these  circumstances,  the  Bishop  had 
but  to  ask  the  opinion  of  those    whose    profession    rendered  them 
familiar  with   such  points  :    and   the   most    eminent   of  the    bar  Of 
Charleston,  S.  C,  gave  their  unanimous  decision  that  the  institution 
could  be  so  perpetuated ;  that  Bishop  Chase,  as  its  founder,  could,  by 
his  last  will  and  testament,  so  dispose  of  the  property  that  it  could  not 
be  otherwise  used  than  as  intended  by  the  donors.     This  decision 
gave  entire  satisfaction  to  the  friends  of  the  institution.     The  Bishop 
returned  from  the  south  bringing  with  him  many  and  munificent  gifts 
for  the  College :  indeed  in   many  instances  the  very  effort  to  "  shut 
out "  Bishop  Chase  from  the  liberality  of  the  generous  south,  was  the 
occasion  of  interesting  many  in  his  behalf,  and  many  liberal  donations 
were  the  consequence.     The  truth  is,  in  this  matter  the  Bishop  had 
no  choice.     He  had  but  one  course  to  pursue  ; — either  to  abandon 
the  enterprise  of  Jubilee  College,  or  go  on  without  a  charter.     That 
at  that  day  a  charter  could  have  been  procured  from  the  legislature  of 
Illinois,  which  would  have  secured  the  College  to  the  Church,  no  man 
who  possesses  a  knowledge  in  the  premises  will  say.     It  was  beyond 
the  possibility  of  a  dream. 

In  1843  a  small  pamphlet  was  published,  entitled  "  Review  of  Jubilee 
College,"  in  which  the  position  of  the  College  was  candidly  set  forth, 
both  in  reference  to  the  good  faith  of  Bishop  Chase  in  managing  its 
property  for  the  present  good  of  the  Church,  and  the  mode  by  which 
he  designed  its  perpetuation  in  the  Church. 

Of  this  Review  the  annotator  in  his  notes  says  :  "  It  contains  a 
"  show  of  argumentation  in  vindication  of  the  Bishop  in  pursuing  the 
"  course  noticed.  That  the  whole  is  fallacious  in  the  extreme,  is 
"  dec'iared  by  the  most  able  jurists  to  whom  the  matter  has  been  sub- 
"  mitted."  That  any  "  able  jurists,"  who  have  carefully  considered 
the  question,  have  ventured  the  above  opinion,  is  not  to  be  supposed  ; 
but  that  many  have  expressed  the  contrary  opinion,  is  well  known  to 
the  writer. 

The  author  of  the  Review,  under  the  opinion,  honestly,  and,  as 


8 

subsequent  events  verified,  truly  entertained,  that  Bishop  Chase  could 
not  at  that  time  procure  a  suitable  charter,  vindicated  him  in  per- 
petuating the  institution  by  deeds  of  trust.  It  at  least  was  the  occasion 
of  calling  the  attention  of  the  legislature  to  the  subject  of  a  charter. 
A  gentleman  who  was  a  member  of  the  legislature  in  1844,  after 
reading  the  Review,  assured  the  Bishop  he  had  no  doubt  of  his  being 
able  to  procure  a  charter  on  the  approaching  session.  After  this 
assurance,  Bishop  C.  sent  through  this  gentleman  the  following 
petition  : 

"  TO  THE  HONORABLE  THE  LEGISLATURE  OF  THE  STATE  OF  ILLINOIS  : 

"The  petition  of  Philander  Chase  humbly  sheweth :  That  your 
petitioner,  in  the  exercise  of  his  calling,  and  claiming  a  right  which 
he  holds  in  common  with  all  the  denominations  of  Christian  people,  to 
worship  God  according  to  the  dictates  of  his  conscience,  hath  deemed 
it  his  duty  to  found  an  institution  of  religion  and  learning,  intended  to 
confer  degrees,  and  more  especially  for  the  education  of  young  men  as 
ministers  and  preachers  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  be  con- 
ducted  according  to  the  regulations  of  the  denomination  to  which  he 
belongs. 

"  To  this  end  he  hath  contributed  much  of  his  own  substance,  labor 
and  time,  for  many  years,  and,  both  in  his  own  person  and  those  of  his 
fumly,  suffere  d  many  hardships  and  deprivations  ;  and,  what  is  worthy 
of  note,  asking  no  assistance  from  the  legislature,  he  hath  gone  abroad 
for  funds,  and  drawn  nearly  all  his  means  from  beyond  the  limits  of 
the  state  of  Illinois,  mostly  from  his  personal  friends  and  the  members 
of  his  own  communion  at  a  distance,  till  the  object  of  his  heart  is  so 
far  accomplished  as  to  afford  good  hopes,  if  he  be  smiled  on  by  the 
rulers  of  the  state,  of  final  and  complete  success. 

"  What  constitutes  a  singular  feature  in  this  enterprise  is,  that  the 
property  contributed  has  been  confided  to  the  petitioner,  with  a  full 
reliance  on  his  integrity  and  honor,  to  use  it  while  living,  and  to  be- 
queath it  when  dying,  according  to  the  will  of  the  donors,  solely  for 
the  benefit  of  the  intended  institution.  This  duty,  himself  and  all  he 
possesses  on  earth  are  pledged  to  perform  : — the  salvation  of  his  name 
from  infamy,  and  of  his  soul  from  everlasting  perdition,  require  that  he 
should  perform  it. 

"This  can  be  done  by  deeds  of  trust;  but,  for  reasons  which  will 
alike  redound  to  the  honor  of  Illinois  and  to  the  good  of  mankind,  the 
petitioner  would  most  respectfully  ask,  that  he  may  be  permitted  by 
law  to  dispose  of  the  property  which  he  has  collected  for  Jubilee 
College,  to  a  board  of  incorporated  trustees,  to  be  named  by  him  in 
his  last  will  and  testament,  whose  duty  shall  be  to  fulfil  the  designs  of 
the  donors  and  founder,  as  set  forth  by  himself,  in  a  pamphlet  printed 
in  Peoria,  entitled  '  The  Corner-Stone  of  Jubilee  College,'  of  April 
3d,  1839. 


/ 


9 

***  And  your  petitioner  will  ever  pray,  that  God  may  bless  the  people 
<of  Illinois.  {Signed]  Philander  Chase. 

"Norwich,  Conn.  Nov.  26,  1844." 

This  petition,  together  with  the  address  referred  to  in  its  last 
paragraph,  was  in  the  hands  of  the  gentleman  who  introdnced  the 
hill ;  and  it  is  presumed  both  were  read  at  least  before  the  committee 
to  whom  the  bill  was  referred. 

But  the  annotator  asserts  that  the  Bishop  did  not,  in  his  application 
for  a  charter,  "define  his  wants  in  any  way;  (could  this  have  been 
"  through  fear  lest  they  should  be  granted  ?)  but  leaving  it  for  the 
**  legislature,  composed  of  a  mixed  body  of  men,  a  majority  of  whom 
"  knew  little  of  his  plans  and  less  perhaps  of  his  wishes,  to  create 
"  and  pass  such  an  act  as — he  might  with  some  plausibility  reject." 

It  is  not  known  from  what  source  the  annotator  drew  Ms  information, 
but  it  is  to  be  presumed  it  was  from  the  address  of  Bishop  Chase  to 
his  Convention  in  1645.  In  this  the  petition  was  printed  in  full;  and 
of  the  address  the  annotator  might  also  have  availed  himself.  A 
simple  reference  to  these  show  that  the  assertion  th  Bi  lop  Chase 
"did  not  define  his  wants,"  as  well  as  the  interroga  ti  ould  this 
have  been  through  fear  lest  they  should  have  be  .1.'"   are 

both  made  without  the  least  regard  to  truth.  Bishop  Chi  •  's  wants 
were  well  defined,  and  there  was  no  fear  lest  they  sh  \  granted. 

No  petition  could  be  more  explicit  than  the  one  pre  No  deed 

of  immunities,   no  charter  of  rights  and   privilege  I   i>c   more 

definitely  expressed  than  the-one  contained  in  the  ad  ie  laving 

■of  the  corner-stone. 

The   following    letter,    if  any  were   necessary,  a  Iditional 

evidence  of  good  faith  on  the  part  of  the  Bishop  in  the  ter  of  the 
charter : 

"  Springfield  1 -U7. 
**  Rev.  S.  Chase  : 

"Dear  Brother — Having   learned    that   you  rticing, 

through  the  press,  a  certain  annoymous  >amph'et,  •  i  v  >l 

to  some   extent  in  this  Diocese,  and  ckaracterize  r  unfiir- 

ness,  not  to  say  malignity,  towards  the   Bishop  ^igerl 

with  him  in  the  effort  to  buil  i  up  Fu  >i:  -      !ol  ■  i  : 

duty  on  my  part,  as  well  as  of  justice  to  him,  to  i  n  •  its 
tending  to  vindicate  him  fr  >m  the  charge  (see  n                      t   )   w'no 


10 

having  acted  in  good  faith  in  his  original  application  to  the  legislature 
for  a  charter. 

"To  the  unprejudiced,  the  success  of  his  recent  application  and  the 
provisions  of  the  act  of  incorporation  will  be  a  sufficient  vindication. 
To  all  others  you  may  say,  it  was  known  to  me  that  he  was  prevented 
making  application  two  years  earlier  than  he  did,  only  from  a  convic- 
tion, not  peculiar  to  himself,  that  such  application  would  be  unavailing. 
Previous  to,  or  during  the  early  part  of,  the  session  of  1842— 3,  I  ex- 
amined, at  Bishop  Chase's  request,  all  the  acts  which  had  then  been 
passed  in  this  state  for  incorporating  colleges  and  other  similar  institu- 
tions, and  forwarded  to  him  copies  and  abstracts,  so  far  as  necessary 
to  enable  him  to  judge  of  their  character  ;  and  as  they  all  contained  a 
proviso  to  the  effect  that  no  theological  professorship  should  be  allowed 
in  connection  with  such  institutions,  he  very  naturally  thought  the 
effort  to  procure  such  a  charter  as  he  desired  would  be  fruitless,  and 
hence  refrained  from  making  it. 

"  In  the  former  part  of  the  session  of  1844-5, 1  received  from  him  a 
letter,  written  at  Norwich,  Ct.,  and  covering  a  petition  to  the  legisla- 
ture of  that  winter,  in  which  he  asked  a  charter  for  his  college.  The 
petition  was  in  no  respect  equivocal,  but  clearly  stated  what  the  founder 
had  done,  and  what  he  desired.  In  it  reference  was  made  to  his 
"  address  at  laying  the  corner-stone,"  and  a  part  o(  that  address  was 
directed  to  be  read  or  incorporated  with  it.  This  petition,  with  the 
letter  enclosing  it,  as  requested,  I  immediately  put  into  the  hands  of  a 
member,  who  the  previous  summer  had  conditionally  undertaken  the 
management  of  it.  At  a  subsequent  interview  (at  that  time  he  was 
too  much  engaged  for  any  conversation,)  he  told  me  he  would  suggest 
two  or  three  alterations  in  the  petition,  and  then  present  it.  He  in- 
formed me  also  that  a  bill,  very  liberal  in  its  provisions,  was  in  progress 
through  the  senate  for  incorporating  a  Roman  Catholic  college  or 
university,  (St.  Mary's  of  the  Lake,)  and  that  he  had  no  doubt  a  similar 
charter  could  be  obtained  for  Jubilee  College. 

"  The  journal  of  the  house  furnishes  no  evidence  that  the  petition 
was  ever  presented.  It  shows,  however,  that  a  bill  for  incorporating 
the  college  was,  on  leave,  introduced  by  the  gentleman  to  whom  the 
petition  had  been  committed.  That  bill,  after  being  amended  in  com- 
mittee and  in  the  house,  became  a  law. 

"  Why  what  satisfied  Bishop  Quarter  was  not  satisfactory  to  Bishop 
Chase,  may  be  seen  by  reference  to  the  address  of  the  latter  to  the 
Convention  of  1845.  It  was  not  such  a  charter  as  he  had  asked  for, 
and  in  some  of  its  provisions  was  altogether  at  variance  with  certain 
fundamental  principles  laid  down  by  him  in  his  "  address  at  the  laying 
of  the  corner-stone."  How  much  truth  there  is  in  the  statements  and 
surmises  of  the  anonymous  pamphleteer,  in  the  note  referred  to,  I  need 
not  attempt  further  to  show. 

"  I  remain,  very  sincerely,  your  friend  and  brother, 

"  Charles  Dkesseb." 


, 


11 

And  what  response  did  the  legislature  make  to  the  foregoing  petition? 
A  charter  was  granted,  but  in  many  of  its  essential  features  the  very 
opposite  of  the  one  prayed  for.  It  set  aside  many  principles  essential 
to  the  very  existence  of  the  institution,  and  laid  down  others  in  positive 
contrariety  to  the  basis  of  its  foundation.  And  yet,  in  reference  to  the 
proposed  charter,  the  annotator  says,  "  The  legislature  listened  with 
"  favor  to  the  prayer  of  the  Rt.  Rev.  petitioner,  and  passed  for  him  an 
"  act  of  incorporation  exceedingly  liberal  in  its  provisions,  but  which, 
"  as  many,  who  understood  Bishop  Chase,  predicted,  was,  with  a 
"  formidable  show  of  reason,  rejected." 

If  by  the  term  "exceedingly  liberal,"  the  annotator  meant  that,  so 
far  as  the  charter  was  concerned,  the  institution  might  be  made  sub- 
servient to  the  propagation  of  other  doctrines  than  those  of  the  Church, 
he  is  undoubtedly  correct ;  but  if  otherwise,  the  assertion  is  entirely 
truthless.  And  whether  there  was  only  "  a  formidable  show  of  rea- 
son," or  real  and  substantial  grounds  for  its  rejection,  let  the  following 
show : 


"  TO  THE  HON.  THE  COUNCIL  OF  REVISION  IN  THE  LEGISLATURE  OF  THE 
STATE  OF  ILLINOIS,  NOW  IN  SESSION  IN  SPRINGFIELD. 

"  Gentlemen  :  The  undersigned  begs  leave,  most  respectfully,  tore- 
quest  your  honorable  body  not  to  approve  and  pass  into  a  law  the  bill 
now  before  you  for  the  incorporation  of  Jubilee  College  ;  the  same  being, 
in  several  most  important  particulars,  contrary  to  the  will  of  the  donors, 
and  the  express  declaration  of  that  will,  made  and  published  by  the 
founder. 

"  Most  sincerely  does  the  undersigned  regret,  that  he  was,  by  unar 
voidable  duties,  compelled  to  be  absent  from  the  state  when  the  petition 
for  giving  to  the  trustees  of  Jubilee  College,  to  be  named  in  his  last 
will  and  testament,  a  corporate  capacity,  was  made  known  to  the  legis- 
lature. Had  he  been  present,  the  undersigned  has  just  grounds  to 
believe  that  he  could,  by  explaining  the  facts,  the  motives,  and  the  law 
of  equity,  have  prevented  the  objectionable  clauses  in  the  bill  as  it  is ; 
or  if  not  so  happy,  at  least,  by  making  known  his  conscientious  objec- 
tions, to  have  saved  the  time  and  expense  to  the  state,  in  thus  needlessly 
passing  the  bill  in  form  through  the  assembly  and  senate.  Jubilee 
College,  like  all  other  eleemosynary  institutions,  is  the  child  of  Benev- 

■nce.  It  received  its  first  germ  of  existence  from  the  alms  and  obla- 
tions of  charitable  persons  of  one  age,  for  the  benefit  of  the  rising  gen- 
erations of  other  ages  to  come.  Its  breath,  and  legal  continuity  of  being, 
it  receives  and  enjoys  by  virtue  of  deeds  of  land  and  property,  or  what 
is  known  in  law  by  '  cestui  qui  trust,'  or  by  power  of  incorporation  grant- 
ed by  an  enlightened  legislature.     The  former  is  what  the  institution 


k 

already  enjoys  :  the  latter  was  the  prayer  of  the  petition  of  the  under- 
signed, as  presented  (he  trusts)  by  Mr.  Arnold,  of  Chicago. 

"  In  either  case,  as  above  named,  the  will  of  the  donors,  when  made 
known  and  publicly  declared  by  the  founders  to  be  the  basis  of  all  dona- 
tions, cannot  be  altered,  nor  its  nature  violated,  either  by  individuals 
who  hold  the  trust  or  corporation,  or  by  the  civil  legislature,  which,  for 
want  of  due  information,  may  attempt  to  guide  its  destinies.  The  whole 
constitution  of  such  eleemosynary  institutions,  is  of  the  nature  of  con- 
tracts between  one  generation  and  another,  and,  as  such,  involve  the 
dearest  interests  of  civilized  man. 

"  The  undersigned  begs  leave  to  refer  the  honorable  the  council  of 
revision  to  the  address  made  by  him  at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone 
of  Jubilee  chapel,  as  containing  an  explanation  of  the  principles  which 
guide  him,  and  as  an  apology  for  his  conscientious  refusing  of  the  char- 
ter referred  to. 

"  The  contrast  between  it  and  the  deed  of  donation,  grounded  on  the 
will  of  the  donors,  which  deed  is  now  incorporated  in  his  '  last  will  and 
testament,'soon  to  be  consummated  by  death,  may  be  seen  by  the  follow, 
ing  instrument,  copied  by  one  of  the  students  of  Jubilee,  from  the  judg, 
ment  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Chase,  the  principal  of  the  school,  who,  at 
the  request  of  the  undersigned,  kindly  consented,  a  few  hours  ago,  to 
give  his  opinion. 

[copy.] 
"  '  Extracts  from  the  Bishop's  Address,  and  the  charter  passed  by  the 
legislature,  showing,  that  the  fundamental  and  essential  principles  of  the 
deed  of  foundation  would  he  set  aside  by  the  acceptance  of  the  proposed 
charter. 

"  'ADDRESS  AT  LAYING  THE  CORNER-STONE.  "  '  PROPOSED  CHARTER. 

"  '  The  Bishop  of  the  diocese        "  '  The    corporation    (i.   e.  the 
shall  be  ex  officio  president  of  the    trustees)  shall  have  power  to  em- 
institution   and   of  the   board   of    ploy  and  appoint  a  president   or 
trustees,  and    shall   nominate  the    principal  for  such  institution,  and 
professors,  teachers,  and  other  offi-    such   professors    and   teachers  as 
cers  of  the  college  and  corporation  ;    they  may  deem  proper, 
and  the  trustees  shall,  by  a  major- 
ity of  votes  taken  by  ballot,  approve 
the  said  nominations.     The  num- 
ber of  trustees  shall  never  exceed 
seven,  besides  the  Bishop,  and  shall 
never  be  less  than  three,  a  majori- 
ty of  whom  shall  be  clergymen  in 
foil  orders. 

"  Trustees  will  be  nominated  as        " '  Such  corporation  shall  have 
vacancies  shall  occur,  by  the  Bish-    power  to  fill  such  vacancies  in  their 
op,  for  the  time  being  ;  which  nom-    own  body  as  may  happen  by  death, 
ination  shall  be  confirmed  by  the    resignation  or  otherwise. 
Convention  of  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal Church  of  the  Diocese  of  II- 


13 

linois.  A  clergyman  ceases  to  be 
a  trustee  when  he  is  canonically 
degraded,  and  a  layman  when  he  is 
excommunicated  from  the  Church. 

"'The  by-laws  shall  be  made  "'  The  corporation  shall  have  pow- 
by  the  trustees,  and  approved  by  er  to  make  and  alter,  from  time  to 
the  Bishop.  time,  such    by-laws  as  they  may 

deem  necessary. 

'"  All  impeachments  of  trustees,  "'Should  the  trustees  at  any 
being  for  abuse  of  trust  reposed  in  time  violate  the  provisions  of  this 
them,  shall  be  preferred  before  the  act,  or  use  the  power  hereby  con- 
civil  court,  and  the  trial  be  conduct-  ferred  for  any  other  than  the  liter- 
ed  by  a  committee  duly  appointed  ary  purposes  above  set  forth,  they 
by  the  Convention  of  the  Diocese  shall  forfeit  the  same ;  and,  upon 
of  Illinois  ;  and  if  the  reus,  or  ac-  complaint  being  made  to  the  cir- 
cused  person,  be  found  guilty  of  cuit  court  of  Peoria  county,  a  scire 
the  abuse  of  trust,  he  shall  be  no  facias  shall  issue,  and  the  court 
longer  a  trustee.  shall  proceed  to  hear  the   same  ; 

and  if  it  shall  be  determined  that 
any  of  the  provisions  of  this  act 
have  been  violated,  the  charter 
shall  thereafter  be  declared  for- 
feited. 

"  And   provided  it  be  made  to        "  '  The  right  is  hereby  reserved 
appear  before  the  court  having  ju-    to  the  legislature  to  amend  or  mcd- 
risdiction  thereof,  that  these  con-     ify,  alter  or  repeal,  this  act,  when- 
ditions  are   not  fulfilled,   and   the     ever  in  its  opinion  the  public  good 
funds    given  or  devoted   to  other    may  require  it.' 
purposes  than  those  designated  by 
the  donors  and  founders,  it  shall  and 
may  be  lawful  for  the  governor  of 
the  state  of  Illinois,  for  the  time 
being,  to  compel  the  trustees   to 
make  amends  for  the  damage  done, 
and  give  bonds  for  the  due  perform- 
ance of  their  duties  in  future. 

"  '  The  above  are  some  of  the  instances  in  which  principles  essential 
to  the  very  existence  of  the  institution,  and  made  the  basis  of  its  dona- 
tion to  the  Church,  are  set  aside  by  the  proposed  charter.  The  Bishop 
of  the  Diocese,  instead  of  being  ex-officio  president,  is  not  by  the 
charter  necessarily  even  a  trustee.  The  qualifications  of  trustees  are 
wholly  disregarded.  So  far  as  the  charter  is  concerned,  there  is  no 
security  against  the  contingency,  that,  after  several  elections,  by  self- 
perpetuation  the  whole  institution  may  be  under  other  than  the  control 
of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church. 

1  "  '  There  is  a  wide  difference  between  a  scire  facias  issued  on 
complaint  of  an  irresponsible  person,  which  may  issue  in  a  forfeiture 
of  chartered  privileges  on  the  part  of  the  institution,  and  one  obtained 
by  persons  'duly  appointed,'  and  which  compels  restitution  on  the  part 


14 

of  delinquent  trustees.     The  one  may  be  fatal,  the  other  can  only  be 
sanative. 

"  'The  whole  tendency  of  the  provisions  of  the  charter  is  to  take 
the  institution  ■  out  of  the  Church,'  and  place  it  '  in  the  world.'  Under 
such  circumstances,  the  founder  could  not  accept  the  proposed  char- 
ter without  an  abandonment  of  the  very  purpose  and  design  of  its 
foundation. 

"  '  The  right  of  repeal,  as  claimed,  is  in  itself  an  insuperable  bar 
to  acceptance,  and  any  recognition  of  such  a  right,  by  acceptance  of 
a  charter  making  such  claim,  would  be  an  act  of/e/o  de  se.} 

"  That  God  may  grant  to  your  honors  a  long  life,  and  to  our  beloved 
State  a  liberal  and  enlightened  policy,  is  the  prayer  of  your  friend  and 
humble  servant,  the  undersigned. 

"  Jubilee  College,  Feb.  4,  1845." 


"Philander  Chase. 


The  foregoing  affords  good  and  substantial  reasons  for  rejecting  a 
charter  like  the  one  proposed ;  and  in  its  rejection  an  honest  and 
unprejudiced  mind  will  find  some  other  motive  for  the  line  of  conduct 
adopted  by  Bishop  Chase,  than  the  one  assigned  by  the  annotator, 
namely,  that  "the  property  must  remain  as  before,  with  the  legal 
ownership  in  the  Bishop." 

Bishop  Chase  could  not  have  accepted  a  charter  containing  provi- 
sions so  variant  with  the  avowed  object  of  the  institution  and  the 
principles  of  its  foundation,  without  becoming  recreant  to  the  trust 
reposed  in  him,  and  rendering  himself  liable  to  prosecution  on  the 
grounds  of  forfeiture. 

Had  Bishop  Chase  accepted  the  proposed  charter,  he  would,  in  sO 
doing,  have  abandoned  his  trust — and,  so  far  as  the  Church  was  con- 
cerned, repudiated  the  college — and  its  legal  ownership  become  vested 
in  the  world.  All  good  and  pious  men,  every  benefactor  of  the  col- 
lege, will  warmly  thank  Bishop  Chase  for  not  accepting  a  charter, 
which  might  ultimately  have  thrown  the  institution  into  the  embrace 
of  any  sect  whatever,  from  the  Romanist  down  to  the  Mormon. 

There  is  still  another  consideration  which  belongs  to  this  portion 
of  the  college  history.  It  is  this :  that  the  property  of  the  institution, 
from  first  to  last,  has  been  confided  to  the  Bishop,  with  a  full  know- 
ledge, on  the  part  of  the  donors,  of  the  difficulty  of  procuring  a  suitable 
charter,  and  the  almost  utter  impossibility  of  managing  successfully  an 
institution  in  its  incipient  stages  of  growth  through  a  corporate  body. 
The  property  has  been  confided  to  him,  "  with  a  full  reliance  on  his 


15 

integrity  to  use  it  while  living,"  and  to  bequeath  it,  when  dying, 
according  to  the  will  of  the  donors,  "  solely  for  the  benefit  of  the  in- 
tended  institution ;  "  leaving  it  discretionary  with  him  whether  the 
right  of  the  trustees,  under  such  bequest,  shall  be  what  is  known  in 
the  law  by  "  cestui  qui  trust,"  or  by  power  of  incorporation.  This 
was  the  condition  of  donation  of  all  the  English  funds,  formally 
expressed  in  writing  on  the  part  of  the  donors,  ere  the  funds  were 
removed  to  this  country.  The  same  is  implied  in  the  case  of  all  the 
donations  made  at  the  south,  in  1839—40,  since  these  were  made 
notwithstanding  the  efforts  used  to  prevent  donations  on  the  ground 
that  "  they  might  go  to  the  Bishop's  heirs  at  law."  * 

*  Extract  of  a  letter  from  Bishop  Chase  to  Mrs.  Sophia  M.  Chase,  dated 

Charlestown,  April  29,  184(h 

"You  must  know  that  Bishop  Ives  (and  a  few  days  since  I  myself)  received  a 
letter  speaking  of  a  '  rumor,'  coming  from  a  '  respectable  quarter,'  that  it  was  not 
safe  to  give  to  Jubilee,  because  there  was  no  provision  made  (though  he  acknow- 
ledged there  was  a  provision  spoken  of,)  in  my  Corner-stone,  for  the  passing  of 
the  lands  and  property  of  Jubilee  into  the  hands  of  the  Church.  At  the  same 
time  I  received  a  letter  from  James  F.  De  Peyster,  of  New- York,  stating  that  he 
had  met  with  the  same  objection,  with  this  additional  complaint,  that  I  was  the 
manager,  sole  manager,  unaccountable  to  any  one  but  common  report. 

"  To  meet  the  former  part  of  this  objection,  I  have  written  a  letter  to  Bishop 
Ives,  and  a  copy  of  the  same  I  have  caused  to  be  sent  to  all  the  religious  periodi- 
cals, stating  what  I  did  just  before  I  left  the  Robin's  Nest,  viz.,  made  my  will, 
and  in  it  appointed  trustees,  and  given  an  exact  and  full  account  of  all  the  pro- 
perty, both  real  and  personal,  belonging  to  the  college,  and  that  this  will  was  the 
printed  pamphlet,  with  a  codieil,  to  which,  and  to  every  important  part  of  which, 
my  name  was  and  is  annexed,  with  my  sign  manual,  the  whole  being  witnessed 
by  competent  persons  and  sealed. 

"  This  letter  was  sent  to  all  the  periodicals.  That  to  Dr.  Seabury,  the  editor 
of  the  Churchman,  was  inclosed  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  J.  F.  De  Peyster,  and  on  the 
envelope  I  stated  that  I  am  the  sole  manager,  and,  under  God,  the  sole  parent 
of  this  institution,  as  I  had  been  of  Gambier  and  Kenyon,  and  that  I  must  be  so, 
or  these  institutions  never  would  have  been  born  nor  ever  could  be  carried  on  ;  that 
there  was  little  reason  for  envy  or  jealousy  or  malice  against  me  ;  for  this  trust, 
which  the  public  was  so  good  as  to  repose  in  me,  would  be  of  short  duration  ;  the 
time  was  fast  approaching  when  my  eye  would  be  closed  on  the  scenes  of  malice 
around  me,  and  my  ear  deaf  to  the  voice  of  Slander,  reposing  in  the  grave,  '  where 
the  wicked  cease  from  troubling,  and  the  weary  are  at  rest.' 

"  What  effect  these  communications  may  have  I  know  not.  Committing  the 
whole  to  God's  guidance  and  blessing,  I  rest  content.  One  thing  I  exceedingly 
regret, — that  your  pure  mind  and  unshaken  integrity  seems  to  be  impugned  by 
these  clouds  and  threatening  storms  from  the  north.  I  have  taken  occasion,  how- 
ever, every  where,  to  state  so  many  particulars  in  which  your  self-sacrifices  are 
and  have  been  manifested,  and  your  devotion  to  the  Church's  best  interest,  disre- 
garding every  personal  comfort,  and  alienating  yourself  so  much  from  the  society 
oe  your  equals,  that  you  might  glorify  God  in  being  the  instrument  of  great  good 
to  the  souls  of  men,  beyond  a  question,  that  little  is  to  be  feared  from  envious  and 
misguided  men-  The  faithful  among  our  dear  Chuich  people  at  the  south  will 
have  your  name  in  everlasting  remembrance,  and  your  virtues  in  the  tablet  of 
their  hearts.     For  your  sake  I  believe  many  of  the  favors  to  me  originate." 


Iff 

Nor  is  it  probable  that  any  donations  have  since  been  made  on 
other  conditions  or  with  any  other  expectation.  In  1843,  in  the 
"Review  of  Jubilee  College,"  it  was  expressly  declared  that  no  ex- 
pectation was  cherished  of  obtaining  an  act  of  incorporation  from  the 
legislature,  and  that  the  Bishop  relied  solely  upon  deeds  of  trust  for 
perpetuating  the  institution.  And  besides  all  this,  the  enemies  of  the 
instituti  ,:  have  been  too  industrieus  in  circulating  their  suspicions  and 
whispering  their  surmises,  to  allow  even  the  widow  tocast  in  her  mite, 
without  .ring  warned  that  she  was  giving  it  to  one  from  whom  noble, 
generous,  and  christian  men,  had  exacted  no  bond. 

Ami  has  this  confidence,  thus  reposed  in  Bishop  Chase,  by  the  pious 
and  munificent,  both  in  England  and  America,  been  misplaced? 
Have  th<  expenditures  been  extravagant,  or  the  investments  unpro- 
ductive '  In  this  respect  at  least,  Jubilee  boasts  herself,  and  challenges 
conip.'ii  -un  with  other  institutions.  Had  Bishop  Chase,  in  the  earlier 
days  of  ihe  institution,  thrown  its  management, — in  its  location,  its 
invest  i  ts,  the  erection  of  its  buildings,  the  appointment  of  its 
teacl  iid  agents, — into  the  hands  of  a  corporate  body; — had  he 

done  tie   question  may  be  seriously  asked,  Where  now  would 

have  b(  en  the  college  ?  It  would  most  undoubtedly  have  been  where 
Kemper  College  now  is.  The  question  is  answered  by  a  reference  to 
the  i.  holy  fate  of  that  institution,  not  in  the  way  of  accusing  any 

one  of  incapacity  or  dishonesty  in  its  management,  but  because  a  like 
fate  must  almost  inevitably  attend  any  Church  institution  which  accepts 
a  cha  •  similar  to  that  of  Kemper  College,  or  the  one  offered  to 
Jubilei    College,  in  1844-5. 

The  ..  y  m  mainhig  question  touching  the  title  of  the  property,  i.  e. 
the  in  •  ■::;•  ncy  through  which  the  Church  shall  exercise  control 
over  the  :  s'ilution,  is  one  of  mere  fact;  but  the  annotator  of  the 
pampl  ifFects  to  regard  it  as  one  of  principle.  In  an  entire  misap- 
prehei  of  the  matter,  he  affects  to  create  an  alarm  by  ringing 

the  cha  yes  upon  the  terms  "right  and  control."  He  asserts  that 
"  the  Church  in  Illinois  has  no  right  in  Jubilee  College,  and  no  control 
"  ove:  "  .  "  that  "neither  the  buildings  nor  the  lands  appertaining  to 
"  Juli  ■  College  are  now  under  the  control  of  the  Church,  ought  to  be 
"  every  where  distinctly  known." 

In  reference  to  all  this  it  may  be  fairly  argued  that  the  above  asser- 


17 

tions,  and  all  others  of  a  like  character,  proceed  upon  an  assumption 
entirely  false,  i.  e.  that  the  only  mediate  agency  through  which  the 
Church  in  Illinois  can  exercise  right  or  control  over  Jubilee  College, 
is  the  acts  of  its  convention — the  acts  of  a  body  which  has  no  legal 
existence.  It  can  neither  sue  nor  be  sued.  Its  committees  can  only 
act,  in  all  things  pertaining  to  the  ownership  of  property,  on  their  own 
individual  responsibility.  By  identifying  the  right  of  the  Church  in 
Jubilee  College,  and  its  control  over  its  property,  with  the  acts  of  the 
Diocesan  Convention,  the  annotator  has  presented  a  false  issue.  The 
question  is  not  whether  the  Bishop  is  under  obligation  "  to  surrender 
to  that  body  the  property  belonging  to  Jubilee  College  ;  "  but  whether 
the  Church  does  through  any  agency  possess  a  title  in  Jubilee  College, 
and  is  enabled  to  control  its  destinies. 

That  this  should  never  be  an  open  question — that  in  all  respects  it 
should  be  an  unequivocally  "  ruled  case  " — has,  of  all  other  points, 
commanded  the  attention  and  influenced  the  conduct  of  Bishop  Chase 
in  every  step  he  has  taken  in  reference  to  the  college.  Had  the  most 
distant  idea  been  entertained  that  this  could  not  or  would  not  be  effect- 
ed, no  college  would  have  existed.  Bishop  Chase  would  never  have 
subjected  himself  to  the  labors,  persecutions,  indignities  and  rebuffs, 
which  he  has  encountered  in  his  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  college  ;  nor 
would  his  personal  friends,  and  the  pious  and  liberal  of  the  Church, 
have  supported  his  hands  and  stayed  his  feeble  knees  by  their  sympa- 
thies and  their  noble  gifts. 

And  has  the  confidence  thus  trustingly  placed  in  Bishop  Chase  been 
abused  ?  Has  Jubilee  College,  by  any  act  of  his,  ceased  to  be  an 
institution  of  the  Church — passed  from  its  control  ?  Let  the  solemn 
declarations  made  in  the  deed  of  foundation,  incorporated  as  part  and 
parcel  of  his  last  will  and  testament — let  the  considerations  on  account 
of  which  he  declined  the  charter  offered  him  in  1844—5 — answer  the 
quesdon.  The  truth  is,  it  has  been  this  very  principle  which  has  pre- 
served the  institution  "  right  of  the  Church  in  Jubilee  College,  and 
power  to  control  its  property."  And  in  the  present  instance  the  prin- 
ciple has,  through  the  agency  of  the  only  permanent  Diocesan  office, 
exerted  a  most  wholesome  and  salutary  influence.  The  assertion,  then, 
that  the  Church  has  no  right  in  Jubilee  College,  and  no  control  over  it, 
is  void  of  all  truth.  All  the  control  which  the  Church  hitherto  could 
2 


18 

have  exercised  over  Jubilee  College,  for  any  salutary  purpose, 
has  been  exercised.  Had  the  "  right  of  the  Church  in  Jubilee  College," 
been  vested  in  the  Diocesan  Convention,  as  such  ;  had  all  control 
over  its  property,  except  such  as  might  have  been  exercised  through 
that  body,  been  abandoned,  on  the  part  of  the  Hishop,  to  its  committees 
or  trustees  acting  under  any  charter  which  might  have  been  procured ; 
Jubilee  College  would  have  beenclassed  among  "western  speculations." 
This  is  not  asserted  as  in  disparagement  of  any ;  but  as  the  inevitable 
result  of  contingencies  over  which  neither  the  Church  nor  its  Conven- 
tion could  have  had  control.  All  know  this  :  the  Church  in  Illinois 
knows  it :  all  business-like  men  will  affirm  it. 

But  the  author  of  the  pamphlet,  in  the  text,  says :  "  As  there  was  no 
"  corporate  body,  or  any  individual,  at  the  time  legally  authorized  to 
"  hold  lands  for  the  college,  the  Bishop  very  properly  took  out  the 
"  patents  in  his  own  name  ;  and  those  patents  contain  no  conditions  of 
"  trust  for  the  college." — "  It  appears,  then,  that  the  whole  is  as  much 
"  under  his  control  and  disposal  as  his  farm  in  Michigan,  and  would, 
"  if  left  in  this  situation  until  his  demise,  as  surely  descend  to  his  heirs 
"  at  law."  And  the  annotator,  in  his  notes,  says  :  "  The  argument  of 
"  the  text  has  been  pronounced  conclusive  by  the  most  able  jurists, 
"  and  should  therefore  cause  the  Church  in  Illinois  to  awake  to  the 
"  subject  of  her  interest  in  Jubilee  College  and  claim  her  rights,  and 
"  the  friends  of  that  Church  abroad  to  insist  that  some  immediate 
"  steps  be  taken  to  put  her  legally  in  possession  of  what  is  really 
"  hers !  " — "  The  fair  and  honest  course  now  is  for  the  Bishop  to 
"  account  for  all  that  he  has  received  or  disbursed  on  account  of  Jubilee 
"  College  to  the  Convention  of  his  Diocese,  and  surrender  to  that  body 
"  what  is  rightfully  its  own." 

The  extract  from  the  text  contains  a  manifest  equivocation.  The 
author  argues :  "  The  Bishop,  having  no  act  of  incorporation,  pur- 
"  chased  the  lands  for  the  college  in  his  own  name  ;  therefore  they 
"  would  inevitably  descend  to  his  heirs  at  law."  This  is  the  whole 
gist  of  the  argument  of  the  text. 

To  a  prejudiced  mind  and  vitiated  heart,  some  occurrences  in 
morals  may  appear  possible,  and  therefore  inevitable ;  but  not  so  to 
the  honest  and  upright.  Were  there  no  subsequent  acts  on  the  part 
of  Bishop  Chase,  which  would  have  interrupted  this  entailment  of  the 


19 

property  upon  his  heirs  at  law  ?  The  author  of  the  pamphlet  well 
knew  there  were.  The  deed  of  foundation, — the  address  at  the  laying 
of  the  corner-stone, — was  in  his  possession  :  nor  was  the  annotator  so 
profoundly  ignorant  of  this  :  he  further  knew  that  this  deed  of  founda- 
tion had  been  authoritatively  declared  to  be  incorporated  as  part  and 
parcel  of  the  founder's  last  will  and  testament. 

As  to  the  call  upon  "  the  Church  in  Illinois  to  awake  to  the  subject 
of  her  interest  in  Jubilee  College  and  claim  her  rights  ;  "  it  may  be 
asked,  Who  withholds  from  her  any  rights  she  has  in  Jubilee  College  ? 
She  has  all. '  She  enjoys  all  the  benefits  it  can  confer.  It  has  been 
cast  into  her  bosom.  Let  her  preserve  and  cherish  it  as  the  child  of 
benevolence,  the  object  of  many  prayers  and  of  untold  blessings. 

And  as  to  the  fair  and  honest  course  so  gratuitously  marked  out  by 
the  annotator  for  Bishop  Chase  to  follow — to  account  for  his  receipts 
and  disbursements  on  account  of  Jubilee  College  to  the  Convention  of 
his  Diocese,  and  to  surrender  to  that  body  what  is  rightfully  its  own ; 
— it  may  be  asked,  by  what  authority  the  call  is  made  ?  Where  is 
the  deed  in  which  the  property  of  Jubilee  College  becomes  "  rightfully  " 
that  of  the  Convention  1 

It  was  never  the  design  of  the  donors  or  the  intention  of  the  founder 
that  this  institution  should  be  under  the  immediate  control  of  that  body. 
When  on  his  visit  to  England,  Bishop  Chase,  being  asked  what  was 
the  nature  of  the  institution  which  he  wished  to  establish  in  Illinois, 
replied,  "  The  same  as  that  which  he  founded  in  Ohio  :  the  only  dif- 
ference will  be  in  the  mode  of  effecting  the  object,  and  in  the  guards 
for  security  against  abuse  or  perversion."  In  Ohio,  as  is  well  known, 
he  had  thrown  the  collections  he  had  made  into  the  lap  of  the  Con- 
vention— an  act  which  subsequent  events  rendered  matter  of  great 
regret, — without  taking  sufficient  security  that  the  funds  would  be 
used  according  to  the  will  of  the  founder  and  donors.* 

In  Illinois,  he  kept,  as  was  mutually  agreed  upon,  the  funds  in  his 
own  hands,  until  the  charter  should  be  granted  securing  to  the  con- 
stituted authorities  the  power,  not  of  doing  as  they  pleased,  but  of 


*  For  more  <ull  information  upon  this  point,  i.  o.  the  necessity  for  some  additional 
"  guards  for  security  against  abuse  or  perversion,"  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  7th 
number  of  Bishop  Chase's  Reminiscences,  where  he  will  find  the  whole  matter 
fully  and  most  satisfactorily  set  forth. 


20 

carrying  into  effect  those  principles  of  the  Church  which  are  known 
and  acknowledged  by  all.  All  the  power  which  a  body,  constituted 
like  the  Convention  of  a  Diocese,  can  exercise  over  the  institution  for 
its  good,  has  been  guarantied  to  that  body,  and  of  that  power  it  will 
never  be  deprived.  The  precise  character  of  this  power  may  be  seen 
by  a  reference  to  the  charter  granted  Bishop  Chase  for  Jubilee  College 
by  the  present  legislature,  1846-7.  In  the  provisions  of  this  charter 
so  freely  granted  by  the  present  legislature  and  so  gratefully  accepted 
by  Bishop  Chase,  an  ample  vindication  of  the  firm  and  unyielding 
course  pursued  by  the  Bishop  may  be  found.  By  it  the  property  of 
the  college  is  secured  to  the  Church  beyond  a  contingency,  so  that 
what  before  was  a  question  in  equity,  is  now  a  point  in  law.  Of  the 
"  legal  ownership,"  it  may  now  be  said,  it  is  "  res  adjudicata"  and 
the  usual  privileges  and  immunities  of  theological  and  literary  institu- 
tions are  guarantied. 

In  th^line  of  conduct  adopted  by  Bishop  Chase,  which  has  resulted 
in  the  procuring  of  a  charter  like  the  one  which  the  college  now  en- 
joys, all  has  been  consistent ;  all  has  been  characterized  by  honesty 
of  purpose  and  integrity  of  conduct.     It  is  true  he  has  been  surrounded 
by  difficulties  and  encountered  many  obstacles  ;  but  by  perseverance, 
and,   above  all,  by  an  unwavering  faith  in  the  motto  so  peculiarly 
characteristic  of  his  life,  "  Jehovah-jireh  !  "  he  has  neither  swerved 
from  his  purpose  nor  abandoned  his  trust.     Scarcely  was  the  project 
of  a  Theological  Seminary  in  Illinois,  under  the  auspices  of  Bishop 
Chase,  announced  to  the  Christian  world,  ere  from  certain  quarters 
there  were  indications  of  hostility.    Spirits  long  dormant,  were  evoked 
from  their  slumbers,  and  sent  upon  their  peculiar  missions.    In  almost 
every  step  of  his  progress,  Bishop  Chase  has  encountered  them,  and 
their  doings,  their  evil  surmises,    their  whispered   suspicions,    their 
secret  machinations  and  open  allegations.     All  who  are  acquainted 
with  the  history  of  Jubilee  College  know  these  things.     They  were 
done  in  the  Church,  and  are  not  unknown  to  the  world.     But  notwith- 
standing this,  the  Church,  as  a  whole,  have  sustained  and  encouraged 
Bishop  Chase,  and  bid  him  God  speed.    Nothwithstanding  the  affected 
distrust  of  some,  the  cold  looks  and  discouraging  words  of  others,  the 
pious  and  liberal  throughout  the  land  have  reposed  confidence  in  his 
honesty  and  integrity,  in  full  reliance  upon  his  known  character  for 


21 

probity  and  uprightness,  for  zeal  and  devotion  to  the  cause  of  religion 
and  learning.  They  have  placed  at  his  disposal  large  donations  for 
disbursement.  And  has  Bishop  Chase  been  unmindful  of  his  respon- 
sibility in  this  respect  ?  Has  he  become  false  to  his  trust  ?  Is  he 
about  to  cover  his  own  head  with  infamy,  plunge  his  family  into 
irretrievable  disgrace,  and,  in  dying,  contradict  the  whole  tenor  of  his 
life?  And  yet,  what  is  the  implied  charge  running  throughout  the 
text  of  the  pamphlet,  and  reiterated  in  the  notes  ?  It  is  a  deliberate 
appropriation  of  an  eleemosynary  fund  to  his  own  behoof,  and  as  a 
legacy  to  his  heirs  at  law.  The  language  may  sometimes  be  guarded 
— the  expressions  disguised;  but  the  imputation  of  the  pamphlet 
amounts  to  this.  And  this  charge — in  all  its  hues,  in  all  its  phases — 
is  most  solemnly  denied.  It  is  thrown  back,  unsustained  by  a  shadow 
of  evidence,  upon  those  who  make  it. 

There  is  something  in  the  character  of  a  man,  after  a  long  life  of 
usefulness  to  his  fellow  beings,  of  devotion  to  the  welfare  of  the  Church 
and  the  honor  of  God,  that  wards  off  the  shafts  of  calumny — that  shields 
him  from  the  assassin-like  attacks  of  an  anonymous  enemy.  All  good 
people  feel  and  know  this.  Every  pious  and  faithful  heart  ahhors  and 
loathes  that  man,  who  either  in  ignorance  or  malice  assails  the  hon- 
esty or  integrity  of  such  a  man  by  calumnies  and  false  allegations. 

But  Bishop  Chase,  in  purging  himself  from  so  foul  a  charge,  would 
not  throw  himself  upon  his  general  character  ;  he  would  not  invoke  the 
intervention  of  that  good  reputation  for  honesty  and  fidelity  which  he 
has  hitherto  enjoyed,  to  shield  him  from  the  consequences  of  the  spe- 
cific allegations  of  the  pamphlet.  While  he  with  all  proper  indignation 
denies  the  charge,  and  throws  it  back  upon  those  who  prefer  it,  he  does 
not  shrink  before  a  single  specification  or  allegation  contained  either 
in  the  text  or  notes  of  the  pamphlet. 

The  specifications  by  which  the  charge  is  sought  to  be  sustained 
are  allegations  touching  the  present  condition  of  the  Church  in  the 
Diocese  ;  the  past  and  present  position  of  the  college  as  an  auxiliary 
to  the  Church  ;  and  the  appropriation  of  funds  given  for  charitable 
objects,  in  the  disbursement  of  which  the  Bishop  has  any  voice.  For 
instance  : 

The  annotator  asserts  that  the  college  "  serves  as  a  grand  vortex,  in 


22 

"  which  are  swallowed  up  all  the  time,  attention,  and  efforts  of  the 
"  Bishop,  and  all  the  funds  that  can  be  raised  for  the  Church  in  Illi- 
"  nois,  both  in  the  Diocese  and  out  of  it ;"  and  that  while  "  the  Bishop, 
"  represents  the  Church  in  his  Diocese  as  flourishing,"  yet  the  "fact" 
is,  "  the  number  of  presbyters  canonically  settled  in  Illinois  is  not  greater 
"  than  it  was  six  years  ago." 

The  first  allegation  is  false  in  the  extreme.  It  contains  a  false  as- 
sertion, and  a  manifest  suppression  of  the  truth.  The  college  is  not 
a  vortex  in  which  are  engulfed  the  labors  of  the  Bishop  and  all  the 
funds  raised  for  the  Church  in  Illinois.  Every  man,  who  has  the  least 
knowledge  of  Church  affairs  in  Illinois,  knows  this  to  be  an  untruth. 
Has  the  Bishop  performed  no  missionary  labors  in  his  vast  Diocese  ? 
Have  no  churches  been  built  therein  1  Have  no  clergymen  been  sus- 
tained 1  Are  the  labors  of  the  Bishop — his  contributions  to  the  Church 
in  all  parts  of  the  Diocese — his  gifts  to  missionaries  laboring  in  desti- 
tute parishes — to  be  regarded  as  nothing  1  The  assertion  is  freely  made, 
and  that,  too,  in  the  deepest  conviction  of  its  truth,  that  the  condition 
of  the  Church  generally  in  Illinois,  so  far  as  regards  the  number  of 
church  edifices,  organized  parishes,  number  of  communicants,  num- 
ber of  clergy  and  means  of  their  support,  is  far  more  favorable  than  it 
would  have  been  had  Jubilee  College  knoAvn  no  existence.  It  has  been 
and  is  a  fountain  whence  has  flowed  many  blessings  to  the  Church  in 
Illinois.     And  in  this  fact  lies  the  suppressio  veri  in  the  allegation. 

As  to  the  comparative  number  of  "  presbyters  canonically  settled  in 
the  Diocese,"  at  the  present  time  and  six  years  ago,  the  allegation  is 
equally  false.  Six  years  ago  (1840),  the  number  of  presbyters  canon- 
ically  settled  in  the  Diocese  was  nine,  and  this  number  included  every 
clergyman  then  resident.  In  June  1846,  the  number  of  presbyters 
canonically  settled  in  the  Diocese  was  twelve  :  add  to  this  the  number 
of  deacons,  three,  and  those  "  settled"  and  laboring  in  the  Diocese, 
though  not  canonically  transferred,  three  ;  and  the  total  is  eighteen, 
double  the  number  "  six  years  ago." 

According  to  the  list  of  clergy  as  it  now  stands,  (March  1847),  there 
are  belonging  to  the  Diocese  21  ;  and  of  these,  20  are  canonically  set- 
tled ;  only  two  of  them  are  deacons  :  so  that  at  the  present  time  the 
"  number  of  presbyters  canonically  settled"  is  eighteen — double  the 
number  of"  six  years  ago."     So  much  for  the  accuracy  of  the  annota- 


23 

tor  in  statistics.  And  yet  assertions  like  the  above  are  put  forward  as 
evidence  that  the  Bishop  has  falsely  represented  the  Church  in  Illinois 
as  flourishing,  entirely  overlooking  and  utterly  disregarding  the  reports 
of  the  faithful  missionaries  and  other  clergy  in  the  Diocese,  all  of  which 
exhibit  an  increase  in  the  number  of  Church  edifices,  congregations, 
communicants,  confirmations  and  baptisms,  in  as  great  a  ratio  as  any 
Diocese  west  of  the  mountains.  The  number  of  clergy  now  perma- 
nently resident  and  laboring  faithfully,  compared  with  the  number  six 
years  ago,  is  more  than  doubled,  and  the  number  of  communicants  is 
more  than  threefold.  What  then  becomes  of  the  imputation  of  the 
pamphlet,  and  what  will  honest  men  say  of  the  evidence  adduced  in 
support  of  it  ? 

In  almost  every  assertion  the  annotator  is  singularly  at  fault.  He 
either  betrays  his  entire  ignorance  or  manifests  an  utter  disregard  of 
truth.     The  following  for  instance  : 

"  Bishop  Chase  represents  Jubilee  College  as  a  flourishing  literary 
"  and  theological  institution,  whilst  the  fact  is,  it  is  a  mere  school 
"  for  boys,  who  in  no  considerable  numbers  are  induced  to  go  there, 
"  with  now  and  then  one  who  is  called  a  student  in  theology."  "  Nor 
"  is  the  Church  in  Illinois,  on  the  whole,  benefitted  by  it.  The  evils 
"  which  she  suffers  through  it  so  far  counterbalance  the  little  good 
"  accomplished,  as  to  cause  it  to  be  regarded  as  a  blight  and  a  curse," 
and  it  "  is  literally  eschewed  as  an  evil."  As  to  the  first  assertion, 
the  annotator  may  shield  himself  under  the  plea  of  ignorance.  He 
has  neither  personal  knowledge  nor  accurate  information  of  any  kind 
to  insure  confidence  in  his  statements.  He  was  never  upon  the  col- 
lege hill,  and  absolutely  knows  nothing  of  the  institution  or  its  inmates 
whom  he  so  rudely  assails.  The  universal  declaration  of  those  who 
have  visited  the  institution,  and  become  acquainted  with  its  internal 
arrangements,  the  course  of  studies,  the  standard  of  scholarship,  the 
christian-like  deportment  of  the  young  men,  is  one  of  unqualified 
approbation.  The  number  of  pupils  for  the  most  part  of  the  time  has 
been  fully  equal  to  the  accommodations  in  the  way  of  rooms  and  culi- 
nary arrangements.  The  course  of  studies  prescribed  and  pursued 
here  in  the  collegiate  department,  embracing  a  period  of  four  years, 
is  as  full  as  that  of  any  college  in  the  United  States,  and  the  standard 
of  scholarship  insisted  on,  ere  the  young  men  pass  to  their  degrees,  is 


24 

beneath  that  of  none.  And  though  the  college  is  yet  in  its  infancy, 
having  been  in  existence  less  than  six  years,  yet  scarce  an  instance 
can  be  cited  of  an  institution  attaining  so  high  a  standing  in  so  brief  a 
period  of  existence.  In  the  theological  department,  seven  have  pur- 
sued their  studies  and  received  orders  :  there  are  now  seven  members 
who  are  candidates  for  orders.  At  the  expiration  of  the  current 
academical  year  four  young  men  will  receive  their  baccalaureate  who 
have  here  pursued  their  entire  collegiate  course. 

Now  all  these  are  facts  with  which  the  annotator  might  have  ac- 
quainted himself,  and  was  in  duty  bound  so  to  do  ere  he  sold  himself 
to  the  infamous  purpose  of  libelling  an  object  of  so  many  prayers  and 
so  many  blessings.  The  ruthless  onslaught  which  has  thus  been 
made  upon  the  pious  youths  and  self-denying  young  men,  who  are 
here  preparing  themselves  for  useful  stations  in  the  Church  and 
honorable  professions  in  the  world,  will  fall  harmless  upon  its  objects, 
and  reverberate  with  double  force  upon  him  who  makes  it. 

As  to  the  latter  allegation,  that  the  college  is  "  regarded  as  a  blight 
and  a  curse,"  and  "  is  literally  eschewed  as  an  evil,"  no  plea  of  igno- 
rance can  avail  the  annotator.  It  is  as  false  in  fact  as  it  is  malicious 
in  design.  It  wittingly  imprecates  a  curse,  where  God  has  blessed. 
No  occurrences  have  taken  place,  either  in  the  college  or  in  the 
Church,  calculated  even  to  suggest  such  a  thought ;  while  on  the 
contrary,  the  expression  of  opinion,  both  of  the  laity  and  clergy, 
throughout  the  Diocese,  individually  and  collectively,  has  been  the 
reverse. 

The  following  resolutions,  entered  upon  the  journal  of  the  Conven- 
tion, are  brought  forward  under  the  solemn  conviction  that  they  have 
been,  and  at  the  present  time  are,  truthful  expressions  of  the  mind  of 
the  Church  in  Illinois.  There  may  be  individual  and  solitary  excep- 
tions, as  will  be  hereafter  intimated  in  the  history  of  the  report  upon 
so  much  of  the  Bishop's  address  as  related  to  Jubilee  College  in  1846, 
viz. : 

EXTRACT  FROM  JOURNAL  1839. 

"The  committee  appointed  upon  so  much  of  the  Bishop's  address  as 
related  to  the  subject  ot  Jubilee  College,  reported  as  follows : 

"  The  committee  appointed  to  take  into  consideration  so  much  of 
the  Bishop's  address  as  relates  to  Jubilee  College  report,  that  they 


2D 

have  had  the  same  under  consideration,  and  as  an  expression  of  their 
confidpr.ee  in  its  venerable  founder,  as  well  as  in  its  beneficial  influ- 
ence np<  n  the  interests  and  prospects  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  in  Illinois,  respectfully  submit  to  the  Convention  the  following 
resolution  : 

'•  Iicroh-rd.  That  this  Convention  have  heard  with  lively  interest 
and  sa  refaction  the  statements  of  the  Right  Rev.  the  Bishop  of  the 
Dioce  e,  in  reference  to  the  measuies  adopted  by  him,  for  the  estab- 
lishment therein  of  an  institution  foi  the  promotion  of  religion  and 
learning,  in  connection  with  the  Church,  to  be  known  as  Jubilee 
College,  and  that,  with  the  fullest  confidence  in  the  great  and  increas- 
ing henel.ts  to  result  from  the  establishment  of  such  an  insti'ition,  the 
samf  be  commended  to  the  patronage  and  support  of  all  t'13  friends 
of  religion  and  the  Church    both  here  and  elsewheve. 

"  Rev.  I.   W.   Hallam,  J.   H.  Kinzie, 

"       C.   Dresser,  Dr.  A.  Cornish. 

"       A.   H.  Cornish, 

M  On  motion,  Resolved    That  the  above  report  be  accepted." 

EXTKACT  FFOM  JOURNAL  1841. 

"  4.  ResohwJ.  That  the  members  of  this  Convention  have  heard 
with  great  satisfaction  the  address  of  the  Right  Rev.  Bishop,  especially 
in  relation  to  the  funds  which  he  has  been  enabled  to  procure  for  the 
endowment  of  Jubilee  College;  and  while  they  would  humble  them- 
selves in  gratitude  to  Almighty  Cod  for  his  goodness  in  moving  the 
heart-  of  distant  brethren  to  give  of  their  substance,  they  also  express 
to  the  world  their  entire  c<  ni.dence  in  the  ability  and  integrity  ot  him 
who  has  been  the  honored  instrument  of  founding  this  institution." 

EXTRACT  FROM  JOURNAL  1846. 

"The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  so  much  of  the  Bishop's 
address  as  relates  to  Jubilee  Co'lege,  made  the  following  report,  viz. : 

il  Galena,  June  22.  1846. 

"  The  committee  to  which  was  referred  so  much  of  the  Bishop's 
ae'dress  as  concerns  Jubilee  Col'ege,  ask  ^ave  to  report: 

"  That  the  e'erioa!  and  lay-members  of  this  Convention  have  the 
most  lively  interest  in  the  posterity  of  that  college;  and  that,  as  they 
disavow  all  claim  to  any  c.  ntrol  over  it  or  to  any  right  to  inquire  into 
any  act  of  the  Bishop  in  relation  thereto,  as  veste  !  in  this  Convention  ; 
theref  re,  they  teiuler  to  the  Bishop  most  respectfully  their  thanks  for 
the  information  which  he  has  vo'untari'y  laid  before  them;  and  declare 
their  continued  c  n  dence  that  the  intentions  of  the  donors  to  said 
college  will  be  carried  into  (ffi  ct  by  him  Wisely  and  faithfully. 

"  Tl  ey  uni'.e  in  p:ayer  to  God  that  life  and  health  and  moans  may 
be  afforded  to  him  to  conduct  this  offspring  of  his  last  days  to  greater 
vigor  and  maturity.  "Charles  Dresser, 

"  E.  B.  Kellogg, 
"Jno   T.  Worthington. 

"  Which  report  was.  on  motion  received,  and  the  sentiments  therein 
expressed,  were  unanimous  y  adopted." 


26 

There  are  some  circumstance?  attending  the  resolution  of  1846 
necessary  to  be  known  in  order  that  it  may  be  understood.  As  early 
as  the  Convention  of  1845,  a  report  was  in  circulation  among  its 
members,  on  the  first  or  second  day,  that  a  resolution,  or  a  series  of 
resolutions,  was  about  to  be  offered  by  a  clerical  member,  calling  in 
question  the  propriety  of  the  Bishop's  conduct  in  relation  to  Jubilee 
College.  The  resolution,  or  resolutions,  were  reduced  to  writing  and 
shown  to  individuals,  most  undoubtedly  for  the  purpose  of  creating  a 
distrust,  of  which,  when  the  resolution  should  formally  curne  before 
the  Convention,  it  was  to  be  regarded  as  the  expression,  perhaps  the 
proof.  But  the  resolution,  whatever  might  have  been  its  character, 
was  never  presented. 

Some  few  weeks  previous  to  the  Convention  of  1846  a  rumor  was 
sent  abroad,  that,  on  the  approaching  Convention,  the  aforesaid  reso- 
lution or  resolutions  would  be  introduced,  and  an  effort  made  to  carry 
them.  But  on  the  assembling  of  the  Convention  nothing  of  the  kind 
was  done,  though  the  individual  was  present  who  was  the  prominent 
actor  in  the  affair  of  1845.  And  hence  the  peculiar  phraseology  of 
the  report ; — Jhe  Convention,  as  such,  disavow  all  claim  to  any  control 
over  the  institution,  or  any  right  as  vested  i  the  Convention  to  inquire 
into  any  act  of  the  Bishop  in  relation  thereto. 

This  report  surely  brought  the  question  involved  in  the  affair  of 
1845  directly  before  the  Convention. 

Why  did  not  the  feeling,  that  the  institution  was  "  a  blight  and  a 
curse"  to  the  Diocese,  so  confidently  averred  to  exist  by  the  annotator 
of  the  pamphlet,  then  avow  itself?  Why  was  it  not  then  "literally  es- 
chewed as  an  evil  ?"  Why  was  not  the  fearful  charge  of  the  pamph- 
let, and  its  untold  specifications,  then  brought  forward,  and  alledgcd  in 
bar  of  the  adoption  of  the  report  and  the  passage  of  the  resolution? 

No  illogical  or  unfair  use  is  here  made  of  the  report  in  question.  It 
is  a  solemn  averment,  on  the  part  of  the  Convention,  of  the  utter  falsity 
of  the  entire  pamphlet,  text  and  notes. 
,  The  truth  is,  that  the  pamphlet,  in  the  various  stages  of  its  history, 
notes  and  all,  has  been  made  the  occasion  of  originating  and  calling 
into  existence  allegations  and  charges,  of  which  it  is  now  to  be  brought 
forward  as  evidence. 

The  pamphlet  is  no  recent  production.     It  is  only  the  embodiment, 


27 

in  a  more  tangible  form,  of  the  thousand  vague  rumors  and  insinuations 
which  were  coeval  with  the  earliest  existence  of  the  College. 

Throughout  the  pamphlet  an  effort  is  studiously  made  to  create  an 
impression  that  the  confidence  reposed  in  the  Bishop  by  the  pious  and 
liberal  has  been  abused  in  the  application  of  funds — that  all  moneys,  in 
the  disbursement  of  which  he  has  any  influence,  are  so  disposed  of  as 
to  contribute  to  his  own  support  and  that  of  his  family,  rather  than  the 
Church  ;  viz  : 

''Bishop  Chase  states,  in  the  Journal  of  his  Convention,  1845,  the 
"compensation  allowed  him  by  his  beloved  Diocese  of  Illinois,  for  the 
"  two  years  preceding,  to  be  about  8199  ;  thereby  intimating  that  his 
"  salary  for  the  time  mentioned  had  been  less  than  $100  per  year; 
"  whilst  the  fact  is,  Bishop  Chase  received  as  salary  for  that  same  time, 
"$1000  per  year  from  the  Domestic  Missionary  Committee,  and  for 
"  his  support  in  his  Episcopate,  in  donations  from  Sir  Thomas  Ackland 
"  and  lady,  and  other  known  sources,  about  $2000  besides." 

Bishop  Chase,  neither  in  language  nor  construction,  makes  any  such 
intimation  as  the  one  alledged.  He  was  merely  acknowledging  the 
amount  which  he  had  received  from  his  own  Diocese,  and  had  no  oc- 
casion to  refer  to  any  other  sums,  had  he  received  such  from  any  source 
whatever. 

Bishop  Chase  did  not,  as  alledged,  receive  "  as  salary  for  that  same 
"  time  $1000  per  year  from  the  Domestic  Missionary  Committee."  His 
salary  from  the  Board  of  Missions  commenced  October  1st,  1844.  The 
moneys  which  he  was  then  acknowledging,  with  the  exception  of  $5, 
wese  all  received  previous  to  that  time.  This  fact  the  annotator,  with 
characteristic  accuracy  in  statistics,  has  entirely  overlooked. 

The  latter  part  of  the  allegation,  that  Bishop  Chase  received  for  his 
support  in  his  Episcopate,  for  the  same  period  of  time,  about  $2000 
besides,  is  entirely  false.  No  such  sums,  from  any  source,  known  or 
unknown,  for  his  support  in  his  Episcopate,  or  otherwise,  were  receiv- 
ed by  Bishop  Chase.  The  connection  of  Sir  Thomas  Ackland  and 
lady's  name  with  this  affair  is  perfectly  inexplicable. 

The  foregoing  affords  a  fair  instance  of  the  annotator's  accuracy  in 
statistics  and  candor  in  statements.  He  has  committed  a  palpable 
blunder  in  statistics :  he  has  manifested  an  entire  want  of  candor  in 
connecting  the  two  occurrences,  i.  e.  the  sums  given  by  his  own  Dio- 


28 

cese  and  the  salary  allowed  him  by  the  Board  of  Missions  :  he  has 
shown  an  entire  disregard  of  truth  in  the  matter  of  the  "  $2000  in  do- 
nations from  Sir  Thomas  Ackland  and  lady  and  other  known  sources." 

Bishop  Chase  does  not  hesitate  to  acknowledge  that  he  has  received, 
at  various  times,  many  and  liberal  gifts  iroin  his  friends  both  in  Eng- 
land and  America ;  and  to  this  acknowledgment  he  is  impelled  by  two 
considerations,  one  of  gratitude  to  his  benefactors,  the  other  of  justice 
to  himself.  Were  he  at  liberty  to  name  his  benefactors,  and  the  sums 
given,  his  heart  would  be  relieved  of  a  burden  of  grateful  emotions. 
Nor  could  he  withhold  this  acknowledgment  in  justice  to  himself;  other- 
wise it  would  be  difficult  for  him  to  account  for  the  sources  whence  he 
has  been  enabled  to  make  large  donations,  on  his  own  account,  to  the 
building  of  Churches  and  other  benevolent  objects  in  his  Diocese. 
But  in  all  the  sums  which  he  has  thus  received,  there  has  been  no 
occurrence  to  afford  even  an  occasion  of  an  allegation  like  the  fore- 
going, since  the  amount  given  by  Bishop  Chase  to  benevolent  objects 
in  his  Diocese  exceeds  the  amount  of  personal  gifts. 

In  close  connection  with  the  foregoing  is  the  more  than  implied 
charge  that  the  funds,  utensils,  and  teams  of  the  college,  have  been 
wrongfully  applied  to  the  improvement  and  cultivation  of  the  Bishop's 
farm  ;  viz.:  "  That  this  advantage  (its  enhanced  value)  arising  to  him- 
"  self  and  family,  through  the  contiguity  of  his  own  farm  to  that  of 
"  Jubilee  College,  and  its  appurtenances,  have  been  considered  by  the 
"  Bishop,  is  not  here  asserted  ;  nor  is  it  here  said  that  the  Bishop's 
"  excellent  farm  has  been  progressing  to  a  high  state  of  cultivation, 
"through  the  instrumentality  of  the  name,  the  funds,  the  utensils,  the 
"  teams,  the  stock,  or  other  property  of  the  College,  though  there  are 
"  some  peculiar  circumstances  upon  which  light  will  be  hereafter 
"  thrown." 

The  charge  evidently  implied  in  the  above  guarded  language,  that 
the  College  has  been  rendered  fraudulently  instrumental  in  the  im- 
provement of  the  Bishop's  farm,  is  most  solemnly  denied  ;  and  the 
"peculiar  circumstances"  upon  which  light  is  hereafter  promised,  are 
fearlessly  pronounced  pure  fabrications.  None,  of  the  character  or 
tendency  implied,  do  or  have  existed. 

In  all  that  relates  to  the  Bishop's  farm,  an  account  current  is  kept 
with  the  same  accuracy  and  the  same  impartiality  as  with  any  indiffer- 


29 

ent  person.  No  teams,  stock  or  utensils,  belonging  to  the  College,  are 
used  in  the  service  of  the  Bishop,  without  his  being  charged  for  the 
same,  at  the  rates  that  he  could  hire  of  an  indifferent  person  in  the 
county.  The  farm,  as  is  well  known,  was  purchased  years  before  the 
location  of  the  College.  At  one  time  the  College  was  to  have  been 
located  four  miles  distant ;  at  another,  some  eighty  miles  distant,  in 
Lasalle  county.  It  was  purchased,  improved,  and,  through  accuracy 
of  the  accounts,  is  carried  on  as  independently  of  the  College  as  any 
farm  in  the  county. 

And  even  the  Robin's  Nest,  the  humble  tenement  upon  the  Bishop's 
farm,  cannot  escape.  It  must  be  made  the  occasion  of  sarcastic  allu- 
sions and  calumnious  charges  against  Bishop  Chase  and  his  family. 

At  one  time,  when  the  annotator  would  scoffingly  ridicule  the  pa- 
tient endurance  and  self-denial  of  Bishop  Chase  and  his  family,  when 
inhabiting  this  lowly  dwelling,  he  represents  it  as  affording  ample  ac- 
comodations for  twenty-nine  souls.     At  another,  when  the  annotator 
accuses  the  Bishop  of  "  extensively  using  it  for  capital  for  the  sake  of 
money-getting,"  he  represents  it  as  a  temporary  building,  at  present 
unoccupied  ;  viz.:  "  The  Bishop's  family  too.     That  one  family  have 
"  shared  with  him  the  privations  above  described  by  himself,  the  number 
"  which  it  embraces  of  his  own  kindred  being  known,  a  truer  sympathy 
"  for  him  will  be  likely  to  be  cherished.     Be  it  understood,  then,  that 
"  the  Robin's  Nest  numbers  and  cherishes  twenty-nine,  who  are  to 
"the  Bishop  as  bone  of  his  bone  and  flesh  of  his  flesh." — "That  'log 
"  house'  has  been  so  extensively  used  for  money-getting,  as  to  render 
"  it  right  and  proper  that  the  truth  respecting  it  should  be  told.     The 
"  truth  is,  that  it  was,  and  was  intended  to  be,  occupied  temporarily 
"  only." — "  Robin's  Nest  gets  but  seventeen  hundred  dollars  this  year 
"  from  the  Domestic  Committee  ;  the  $1000  already  noticed  going  to 
"  the  Bishop,  $300  to  his  son,  $200  to  his  nepheAv.  and  $200  to  his 
"protege.     Why  cannot  more  be  given,  and  so  the  personal  privations 
"  and  inconveniences  we  so  often  hear  of  be  diminished  ?     If  given,  it 
"  shall  go  into  the  one  common  treasury,  whose  keeper  knoweth  how 
"  to  care  for  his   own.     Come  and  see  how  this  is  done,  and  judge  ; 
"  $500  deducted  from   $3,500,  for  expenses  for  raising  the   same   in 
"  Jubilee  College,  is  but  a  slight  sample." 

It  is  somewhat  uncertain  in  what  precise  sense  the  annotator  uses* 


30 

- 

the  term  "  Robin's  Nest,"  in  the  above  quotations.  Sometimes  it 
seems  as  only  applicable  to  the  dwelling  on  the  Bishop's  farm,  and 
again  as  if  used  generically  to  embrace  the  Bishop  and  his  family  and 
all  in  the  employ  of  the  college,  and  again  the  Bishop  and  all  the 
missionaries  in  the  county ;  but  whether  used  in  the  one  sense  or  in 
the  three  respectively,  the  changes  are  so  artfully  rung  upon  the  word, 
as  to  convey  the  impression  that  all  is  done  solely  for  the  emolument 
of  Bishop  Chase  and  his  family.  But  in  each  and  every  one  of  these 
senses  the  imputation  intended  is  false. 

The  "  Robin's  Nest "  has  never  at  any  one  time  numbered  or 
cherished,  as  belonging  properly  to  the  family  of  Bishop  Chase,  one- 
third  of  the  number  alledged.  It  was  never  designed  to  be,  nor  was 
it,  occupied  temporarily.  There  is  no  conceivable  sense  in  which  it 
can  be  said  with  truthfulness  that  it  gets  $  1709  from  the  Domestic 
Committee. 

Now  what  are  the  facts  ? 

The  "  Robin's*  Nest "  was  the  name  originally  given  to  the  humble 
dwelling  into  which  the  Bishop  and  his  family,  consisting  of  himself, 
wife,  two  sons,  (his  eldest  son  being  a  member  of  Trinity  College, 
Hartford,)  one  daughter  and  a  niece,  moved  on  his  first  coming  to 
Illinois.  This  tenement,  as  is  well  known,  is  a  substantially  built  log 
cabin,  and  is  situated  about  one  and  a  half  miles  from  the  college.  It 
was  inhabited  by  the  Bishop  and  his  family,  as  above  enumerated,  for 
several  years,  and  subsequently,  and  at  the  present  time,  by  Mr. 
Henry  I.  Chase.  This  dwelling,  though  by  the  industry  of  the  Bishop 
and  his  son  in  planting  fruit  and  ornamental  trees,  presenting  a  neat 
and  comfortable  aspect,  yet  in  reality  possesses  all  the  discomforts  of 
a  log  cabin,  which,  notwithstanding  the  merciless  irony  of  the  annota- 
tor,  those  only  can  appreciate,  who,  with  tastes  and  habits  formed 
under  other  circumstances,  have  been  obliged  to  endure 

Under  what  figure  of  speech  the  annotator  use?  the  term  "  Robin's 
Nest,"  when  he  affirms  that  it  "numbers  and  cherishes  twenty-nine, 
"  who  are  unto  the  Bishop  as  bone  of  his  bone,  and  fl^sh  of  his  flesh," 
is  left  entirely  to  conjecture.  By  enumerating  the  Bishop's  family 
and  those  of  six  others  residing  upon  the  college  hill  or  in  its  vicinity 
in  1846,  and  whose  heads  are  more  or  less  employed  in  the  different 
departments  of  the  college  or  in  missionary  operations,  and  we  have 


31 

the  exact  number  twenty-nine.     Rut  what  has  this  to  do  with  ths 
privations  and  inconveniences  which  Bishop  Chase  and  his  family 
have   endured,  or   the    sympathy  which    his   toils    and   labors  have 
excited?     These  six  families  all  have  separate  and  independent  estab- 
lishments,   main' lined  and   supported  at  their   own  expense.     The 
heads  of  these  families  have,  or  have  had,  some  connections  with  the 
college,  or  missionary  work  in  its  vicinity.    They  have  been  employed 
as  missionaries,  as  teachers,  or  as  agents  tor  the  college.     But  what 
has  this  to  do  with  the  inconveniences  of  the  "  Robin's  Nest,"  or 
sympathy  for  the  toils  and  labors  of  the  Bishop  ?     They  one  and  all 
have  labored  faithfully  in  their  several  departments,  and  all  that  they 
have  received  has  been  honestly  earned.     Four  out  of  six  of  these 
families  are  more  or  less  connected  with  him  by  consanguinity.     But 
what  has  this  to  do  with  the  imputation  sought  to  be  sustained  ? — The 
very  reverse  of  what  the  pamphlet  supposes.     These  persons  labor 
under  the  direction  of  the  Bishop,  whether  for  the  college  or  in  tl  e 
missionary  work,  not  because  from  their  connection  with  him  by  the 
ties  of  blood  they  receive  large  salaries,  but  from  other  and  higher 
considerations.     In  many  instances   these  persons   are  laboring  for 
salaries  upon  which  others  have  turned  their  backs.     The  writer, 
who,  of  the  four  alluded  to,  is  the  most  distantly  related  to  the  Bi?hop, 
and  who  receives  the  largest  salary,  now  most  solemnly  declares,  that, 
did  not  his  labors  here  afford  greater  promise  of  usefulness  to  the 
Church  than  they  could  if  rendered  in  a  secular  college,  the  considera- 
tion of  the  salary  he  receives  would  not  prevent  his  abandoning  his 
post  to-morrow  :  and  what  is  true  in  his  case  is  still  more  true  in  the 
case  of  the  others.     But  still  the  question  recurs,  What  has  all  this 
to  do  with  the  untiring  zeal  and  devotion  of  Bishop  Chase  to  the 
welfare  of  Jubilee  College  and  the  advancement  of  the  Church  in 
Rlinois  ?     Why  drag  the  Robin's  Nest,  the  number  of  its  inmates,  the 
families  of  those  employed  in  the  college,  thus  before  the  gaze  of  the 
world  ?     It  is  to  point  a  sarcasm — to  wing  the  shaft  of  calumny — to 
empoison  the  stiletto. 

And  what  are  the  facts  in  relation  to  the  Missionary  fund,  of  which 
it  is  asserted  "  Robin's  Nest  gets  but  $  1703  ?  " 

The  Rev.  Dudley  Chase,  the  Bishop's  son,  during  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  year  is  engaged  in  his  duties  as  an  itinerant  missionary. 


32 

He  accompanies  his  father  in  his  tours  through  his  Diocese ;  and 
when  not  engaged  in  visiting  distant  sections  of  the  country,  laithfully 
preaching  the  gospel  to  the  destitute  and  breaking  to  the  needy  the 
bread  of  life,  he  regularly  officiates  at  a  chapel  in  Brimtield,  some 
seven  miles  distant  from  the  Robin's  Nest,  where,  under  God,  through 
his  faithful  ministrations,  a  large  and  flourishing  congregation  has 
been  gathered,   principally  from   those  who   we:-e   strangers  to   the 

Church. 

The  Rev.  Richard  Radley,  who  is  scoffingly  termed,  for  what  reason 
I  know  not,  the  Bishop's  protege,  has  charge  of  a  parish  at  Jones's 
Prairie,  some  ten  miles  distant  from  the  Robin's  Nest,  where  he 
regularly  officiates  :  he  has  charge  also  of  a  chapel  at  Kickapoo,  some 
two  miles  distant,  where  he  is  collecting  a  promising  congregation : 
in  all  which  he  performs  faithfully  the  duties  of  a  missionary. 

The  Rev.  Samuel  Chase,  a  distant  relative  of  the  Bishop, — called 
in  the  pamphlet  his  nephew, — devotes  his  time  principally  to  the 
chapel  of  the  college  and  the  religious  instruction  of  the  pupils  :  he 
also  occasionally  preaches  in  the  chapels  at  Brimneld  and  Kickapoo, 
when  the  Rev.  Messrs.  D.  Chase  and  Radley  are  engaged  in  more 
distant  services. 

A  reference  to  the  reports  of  the  above  missionaries,  as  published 
in  the  Spirit  of  Missions,  will  show  that  the  stipends  appropriated  to 
them  by  the  Board  has  not  been  lost  to  the  Church.  The  extent  of 
territory  travelled  over  by  them  embraces  a  circuit,  the  diameter  of 
which  is  some  90  miles,  no  portion  of  which  lies  within  the  parochial 
cure  of  any  other  clergyman.  The  number  of  congregations  visited 
by  them  is  11 ;  the  number  of  communicants  is  upwards  of  175. 

Leaving  out  of  the  statistics  the  $  1003  paid  the  Bishop  on  other 
grounds  and  for  other  purposes,  there  is  scarce  an  instance  in  the 
whole  missionary  field  of  the  Church,  where  $  700  in  its  appropriation 
embraces  so  large  a  territory,  so  great  a  number  of  stations,  and  so 
many  communicants.  The  fact  may  here  be  stated,  that  towards  the 
chapel  at  Brimneld,  Bishop  Chase  has  contributed  near  $800,  and 
the  Rev.  D.  Chase  $50  ;  while  towards  the  chapel  at  Kickapoo,  the 
Rev.  R.  Radley  has  contributed  upwards  of  $  700,  and  is  still  holden 
for  a  debt  of  more  than  $  100. 

Surely  in  these   instances  there  has  been  no  wrong  committed, 


33 

either  by  the  Board  in  granting  the  several  stipends,  or  by  the  mis- 
sionaries in  accepting  them.  The  moneys  have  all  been  expended  in 
the  current  and  daily  expenses  of  the  missionaries,  who  have  been 
and  are  laboring  as  faithfully  as  any  in  the  field. 

But  what  has  all  these  facts,  either  as  it  regards  the  salaries  allowed 
the  missionaries  or  the  labors  performed  by  them,  to  do  with  the 
"  Robin's  Nest,"  or  its  "  one  treasury?  "  Why  must  the  Robin's  Nest 
be  made,  Proteus-like,  to  assume  as  many  phases  as  the  annotator  of 
the  Ann-street  pamphlet  shall  choose  to  cast  imputations  upon  Bishop 
Chase  and  his  measures  ?  What  has  occurred  in  it  or  the  Church, 
that  it  must  be  made  the  occasion  of  taunts  and  sarcasms  towards  its 
venerable  occupant  in  former  years  1  Strangers  may  look  coldly  on, 
and  enemies  may  smile  at  the  unfeeling  and  heartless  language  in 
which  the  annotator  has  chosen  to  indulge,  in  describing  it  as  the 
scene  of  Bishop  Chase's  early  toils  in  behalf  of  the  college  ;  but  others 
will  burn  with  honorable  indignation  or  weep  with  bitter  sorrow. 

Since  writing  the  foregoing  the  following  letters  have  been  found 
among  the  Bishop's  correspondence,  and  are  here  properly  introduced, 
as  well  for  the  purpose  of  showing  the  source  whence  the  funds  were 
derived  which  converted  the  "  log  cabin  into  a  convenient  and  warm 
cottage,"  as  to  contrast  the  real  scenes  and  actual  occurrences  in  the 
Robin's  Nest  with  the  descriptions  of  the  pamphlet. 

"Holton  Rectory,  July  — ,  1S40. 

"  My  dear  Mrs.  Ciiase  :  1  had  the  pleasure  of  receiving  the  dear 
Bishop's  letter  from  New-Orleans,  and  was  delighted  to  see  how  the 
hearts  of  his  friends  were  opening  to  receive  him  and  to  aid  his  great 
undertaking.  I  address  myself  to  you,  my  dear  madam,  in  reply,  not 
knowing  where  your  beloved  traveller  may  have  bent  his  steps  since  he 
wrote  to  me,  and  yet  hoping  that  by  the  time  this  reaches  the  Robin's 
Nest  you  may  again  be  cheered  by  his  society. 

"I  have  the  great  pleasure  of  announcing  to  you,  that  two  days  ago  I 
received  a  letter  from  a  dear  friend,  who  will  not  let  me  mention  his 
name,  saying  that  he  had  ordered  £50  to  be  paid  to  the  account  of 
Bishop  Chase,  at  Messrs.  Homes  &  Farquhar's,  St  James-street,  as 
his  own  contribution,  and  £25  for  his  daughters.  It  is  entered  as 
coming  from  friends  of  mine  ;  and  in  reply  I  have  told  him  that  he  has 
not  only  done  the  kindest  thing  possible,  but  in  a  manner  to  ^ivc  me 
the  greatest  possible  gratification;  tor  not  having  myself  the  means  of 
helping  as  I  could  wish,  he  thus  makes  it  appear  in  my  name.  I'hope 
we  shall  make  up  the  £100  with  a  few  other  donations;  and  then, 
3 


34 

dear  madam,  I  wish  to  commit  this  sum  specially  to  your  care.  It  is 
given  to  cheer  the  heart  of  the  dear  Bishop,  and  to  encourage  him  in 
his  work  ;  but  that  heart  can  never  be  cheerful,  if  it  sees  you  oppressed 
with  toil  and  care.  It  must  not,  therefore,  go  for  any  ornamental 
works  for  the  college  or  the  chapel,  nor  for  any  extension  of  the  build- 
ing. It  must  go  to  relieve  your  mind  from  cares  that  have,  I  am  sure, 
already  come  upon  you,  and  from  exertions  that  are  too  much  for  your 
strength  ;  and  in  this  way  you  will  be  strengthened  to  strengthen 
your  invaluable  husband,  and  to  exert  all  your  energies  to  persuade 
him  not  to  attempt  more  than  he  has  the  means  to  carry  on  ;  for  if  he 
does,  he  will  come  under  the  rebuke  of  Luke  xiv.  28 — 30  ;  whereas  if 
now  he  just  brings  into  use  what  he  has  already  done,  he  will  receive  the 
praise  and  congratulations  of  all.  I  hope,  therefore,  this  is  the  last 
time  that  he  will  have  to  appeal  to  the  public,  and  that  when  once  he 
gets  back  to  you  he  will  settle  for  life,  and  that  all  his  energies  will  be 
turned  to  the  spiritual  concerns  of  his  interesting  and  immense  Diocese. 
What  a  charge  it  is  !  and  what  an  honor  to  be  permitted  to  be,  as  it 
were,  the  rallying-point  for  so  many  who  may  become  the  faithful  sol- 
diers of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  My  dear  friend,  in  writing  to  me  with 
his  generous  contributions,  says  :  '  May  he  long  live  to  accomplish 
what  he  has  planned,  for  the  glory  of  his  Master  and  the  good  of  souls; 
and  then  he  will  be  entitled  to  what  was  said  of  Bishop  Hall,  which  I 
turn  into  an  epitaph  for  him  : 

HERE  LIES  BISHOP  CHASE, 
WHO  DIED  FULL  OF  YEAES  BUT  FULLER  OF  GRACE.' 

"  I  just  copy  thisjo  show  you  the  pious  interest  taken  by  this  friend 
in  the  dear  Bishop,  who  I  hope  will  be  with  you  to  read  this,  or  at 
least  that  you  have  good  accounts  of  him  and  his  progress  towards  you. 
The  seeds  he  and  his  dear  Mary  gathered  were  for  this  friend,  but  they 
never  arrived,  neither  could  I  learn  what  became  of  them. 

"  Adieu,  my  dear  madam,  and  believe  me  most  truly  yours, 

Akxe  Tyndale." 

To  this  letter  was  sent  the  following  reply  : 

"  Robin's  Nest,  Illinois,  Seft. — ,  1840. 
"  My  dear  Mrs.  Tyndale  :  My  dear  husband  inclosed  me  your 
kind  letter,  forwarded  from  me  to  him  in  Charleston,  and  at  the  same 
time  mentioned  he  had  written  you  an  answer.  My  heart  dictated  an 
immediate  reply  to  your  affectionate  communication  ;  but  at  that  time 
I  was  attending  the  sick  bed  of  a  relative.  As  returning  health  again 
blessed  our  little  circle,  news  came  that  my  dear  husband  was  ill, — 
very,  very  distant  from  us.  It  was  what  I  had  long  expected  to  hear. 
His  ardor  in  his  Master's  cause  I  feared  was  carrying  him  beyond  his 
strength.  But  He  whom  he  serves  was  with  him  ;  and  the  last  mail 
brought  us  the  cheering  intelligence  that  he  should  in  a  day  or  two 
leave  Connecticut  for  home,  though  rather  on  a  circuitous  route,  hop- 
ing to  see  us  all  in  October.  My  spirits  thus  enlivened,  I  feel  happy  in 
addressing  you. 


35 

"To  our  unknown  benefactors  I  would  offer  thanks  ;  but  these  are 
so  common,  and  often  proceed  from  hearts  that  value  the  gift  more  than 
the  giver,  that  I  refrain.  Say  then,  if  you  please,  dear  madam,  they 
are  remembered  when  I  supplicate  that,  for  temporal  favor  received, 
God  would  pour  on  them  abundantly  spiritual  gifts. 

"  How  can  I  ever  doubt  His  care,  when  he  inclines  the  hearts  of 
Christians  in  a  distant  land  to  supply  our  wants  here  in  the  wilderness. 
As  you  remark  the  sum  is  "committed  to  my  care,  to  dispose  of  as 
may  most  cheer  the  heart  of  the  dear  Bishop,"  you  will  be  pleased  to 
hear  in  what  way  I  employ  it.  Our  habitation,  though  pleasant 
enough  in  summer,  is  rather  a  sorry  one  in  winter.  I  have  therefore 
availed  myself  of  this  generous  donation  to  convert  our  humble  cabin 
into  a  convenient  and  warm  cottage.  This  is  now  nearly  completed, 
and  I  doubt  not  my  dear  husband  will  be  quite  satisfied  with  the  ex- 
penditure, and  enjoy  it  tenfold,  as  it  is  an  evidence  that  Christian 
hearts  feel  for  him,  though  oceans  separate  us.  Perhaps  I  ought  to 
say  something  of  the  fund  collected  by  Mrs.  Wiggin  some  years  since 
for  tliis  object,  and  to  which  you,  dear  madam,  were  a  liberal  contribu- 
tor ;  but  my  husband  has  certainly  told  you  all  about  it,  and  you  must 
feel  assured  it  was  a  thousand  times  better  emp'oyed.  It  would  do 
your  heart  good  to  look  into  Jubilee  chapel, — the  pulpit,  desks,  and 
folding-doors  of  black  walnut,  the  pews  painted  in  imitation  of  oak, 
every  thing  plain  but  very  neat  and  in  good  taste.  The  sound  of  the 
bell  almost  makes  me  weep.  Though  we,  after  many  years,  are  so 
blessed,  yet  to  how  many  in  Illinois  do  the  lines  of  Cowper  apply : 

"  '  The  sound  of  the  cluirch-going  bell 
"  '  These  valleys  and  rocks  never  heard.' 

"  Rushville,  at  the  south,  60  miles,  is  the  nearest  Episcopal  Church, 
and  that  is  without  a  clergyman  :  Chicago  160  miles  to  the  north  :  to 
the  cast  and  west,  many  families,  but  no  Churches.  Last  Sunday  was 
our  monthly  communion.  It  was  tine  weather,  and  eight  new  mem- 
bers joined  us  from  Farmington,  20  miles  distant :  six  of  them  had 
lately  moved  in  from  Philadelphia;  they  were  Irish,  though  for  some 
years  residing  in  the  States.  Here  then  is  a  nucleus  for  another 
Church,  if  we  had  a  teacher  to  give  them.  But  where  is  he  to  be 
found  ?  Not  in  the  eastern  states  :  the  demand  there  is  greater  than 
can  be  met.  In  this  state  of  things,  say  not,  dear  madam  that  I  should 
urge  my  dear  husband  to  'settle  for  life.'  Nothing  would  be  more 
congenial  to  my  feelings  or  his.  But  duty  is  before  him :  he  must 
labor  for  another  generation.  Population  is  thickening  around  us. 
Ignorance  and  vice  have  rule.  What  can  the  unaided  etforts  of  one 
man  do?  When  at  home,  his  heart  sinks  at  the  very  calls  for  help 
that  he  is  not  able  to  render.  He  travels  through  his  Diocese  till  his 
voice  and  strength  are  gone,  and  he  returns  to  await  and  reflect  that 
he  has  done  nothing — nothing  to  meet  the  exigency.  Thus  years 
have  passed.  But  he  knows  a  religious  education  for  the  youth — a 
school  for  the  prophets — would  make  this  wiiderness  bloom  and  blos- 
som as  the  rose.     Yet  he  is  poor :  he  has  little  influence.     It  is  all 


36 

true,  and  he  might  fall  under  the  threatened  rebuke  you  allude  to  ;  but 
experience  has  taught  him  his  Master  is  rich  and  powerful.  It  His 
strength  he  goes  on  ;  in  His  strength  he  has  been  successful ;  when  he 
trusts  in  his  own,  he  will  fail.  That  this  time  may  never  arrive,  let 
him  have  the  prayers  of  his  dear  English  friends  :  they  have  his  and 
mine. 

"  Most  truly,  believe  me  your  grateful  and  affectionate  friend, 

"  S.  M.  Chase." 

As  to  the  $500  deducted  from  the  scholarship  fund  in  the  College, 
the  occurrence  is  believed  to  be  entirely  satisfactory  to  the  contributors 
to  that  fund  ;  and  others  need  only  be  reminded  that  Bishop  Chase 
was  engaged  nearly  nine  months  in  establishing  the  scholarship  foun- 
dations, during  the  greater  portion  of  which  he  was  travelling,  to  satisfy 
them  that  this  was  not  an  extravagant  sum  to  be  expended  during  that 
period  of  time  in  personal  expenses  and  travelling  fees.  It  was,  in 
fact,  less  than  his  expense  actually  paid  out. 

The  following  interrogatories,  contained  in  the  notes  of  the  pam- 
phlet, deserve  a  passing  notice  : — 

"  In  the  case  of  a  large  share  of  the  moneys  received  by  Bishop 
"  Chase,  how  can  the  intention  of  the  donors  be  ascertained  at  all  ?" — 
"  How  is  it  to  be  ascertained,  of  all  the  moneys  the  Bishop  has 
"  received  and  unappropriated  specifically,  what  portion  has  been 
"  intended  for  him  as  an  individual ;  what  portion  for  him  as  Bishop 
"  of  Illinois,  to  support  the  Episcopate  ;  and  what  portion  for  him  to 
**  use  on  Jubilee  College  ?  " 

As  to  the  distinction  the  annotator  affects  to  make  between  sums 
given  to  Bishop  Chase  as  an  individual,  and  those  given  to  him  as 
Bishop  of  Illinois,  "to  support  the  Episcopate,"  it  is  a  distinction 
without  a  difference.  No  sums  have  ever  been  intrusted  to  Bishop 
Chase  on  any  such  condition  as  the  distinction  implies,  i.  e.  "  to  sup- 
port the  Episcopate"  during  the  life  of  Bishop  Chase  or  his  continuance 
in  office,  and  then  descend  to  his  successor.  And  yet  the  language 
of  the  annotator,  if  it  means  any  thing,  implies  this. 

In  reference  to  the  remaining  part  of  the  inquiry,  it  may  be  observed 
there  will  be  no  difficulty.  Accurate  accounts  are  kept  of  all  the 
various  sums  received  or  disbursed  by  Bishop  Chase  on  account  of 
Jubilee  College.  These  accounts  are  kept  with  the  utmost  minute- 
ness.    All  sums  received  are  entered,  and  the  objects  for  which  they 


37 

are  given  are  specified.  If  in  any  case  a  reasonable  doubt  exists  as 
to  t  lie  intended  object,  the  sum  is  placed  to  the  general  account  of  the 
College  ;  and  many  arc  the  instances  in  which  the  sums  given  have 
been  thus  credited,  where  an  impartial  party  would  have  unhesitatingly 
decided  that  they  were  intended  for  the  Bishop's  private  use.  Upon 
this  point  there  is  the  utmost  scrupulousness  upon  the  part  of  the 
Bishop  and  his  iamily.  The  foul  imputation  implied  in  the  interrog- 
atory of  the  annotator  is  as  abhorrent  to  them  as  it  is  disgraceful  to 
him  who  makes  it.  Ample  vouchers  are  taken  for  all  sums  paid  out 
on  account  of  the  College.  In  this  respect  the  Bishop  is  particularly 
jealous  of  the  proceedings  of  his  agents. 

That  all  in  the  matter  of  receipts  and  disbui'sements  on  account  of 
the  College,  is  done  in  good  faith  and  with  the  strictest  honesty,  tho 
most  solemn  declaration  and  averment  is  here  deliberately  made. 
Nor  is  this  done  unadvisedly,  or  on  insufficient  grounds.  Ample  and 
satisfactory  documents  of  the  fiscal  transactions  of  the  College  are 
preserved,  and  will  in  due  time  be  handed  over  to  persons  duly 
authorized  according  to  the  charter  to  receive  the  same  ;  togethex* 
with  "all  the  houses,  lands,  mills,  stores,  flocks  and  herds,  which  have 
"  been  contributed  or  which  have  resulted  from  such  contributions." 

Throughout  the  pamphlet  there  are  frequent  intimations,  sometimes 
found  in  its  peculiar  phraseology,  and  again  in  positive  assertion,  that 
other  specifications  are  in  reserve  and  will  be  brought  forward  "  here- 
after." Whether  this  be  truly  so,  or  whether  the  intimation  be  only 
in  corroboration  of  the  preferred  charges,  the  gauntlet  is  accepted. 
Bishop  Chase  shrinks  from  no  responsibility  in  the  matter  of  Jubilee 
College,  which  in  the  good  providence  of  God  has  been  imposed  upon 
him.  The  immense  interests  with  which  he  has  been  entrusted  will 
be  sacredly  guarded,  and  faithfully  transferred  to  others,  according  to 
the  declared  and  known  will  of  the  donors,  and  in  accordance  with 
the  provUions  of  the  charter  granted  him  in  1840-7. 

The  entire  pamphlet  has  now  been  reviewed.  The  various  allega- 
tions brought  forward  in  support  of  the  main  charge,  have  been  met 
and  shown  to  be  false ;  and  if  any  minor  ones  have  been  overlooked, 
they  may  readily  be  referred  to  their  own  peculiar  category  :  they  will 
naturally  class  themselves  as  belonging  to  those  brought  forward  in 
ignorance  or  in  malice. 


38 

And  the  declaration  is  here  again  renewed,  and  that  too  with  all 
earnestness  and  solemnity,  that  the  main  charge  preferred  in  the 
pamphlet,  together  with  the  minor  allegations  and  specifications  by 
which  it  is  sought  to  be  sustained,  is  false.  The  allegations  and 
1  specifications,  one  and  all,  are,  either  in  fact  or  in  their  sinister 
;  interpretations,  false.  They  are  thrown  back  with  all  the  conse- 
quences this  act  involves  upon  those  who  prefer  them. 

In  conclusion,  the  question  naturally  occurs,  What  is  the  object  of 
the  pamphlet  ?  What  motives  have  actuated  its  authors,  and  what 
'  purpose  have  they  in  view  1  Is  it  an  honorable  solicitude  for  the 
welfare  of  the  College,  and  an  honest  effort  to  rescue  it  from  any  real 
or  supposed  danger?  Nothing  of  the  kind.  The  agents  in  the  matter 
1  of  the  pamphlet,  from  its  first  vague  and  equivocal  existence  down  to 
its  present  tangible  form,  have  neither  entertained  any  anxiety  for  the 
welfare  of  the  College,  nor  have  they  supposed  that  danger  menaced 
it  from  the  quarter  they  have  indicated. 

The  conduct  of  all  those  who  have  sympathized  with  the  effort  of 
the  pamphlet  in  all  that  they  have  whispered,  in  all  that  they  have 
murmured,  and  in  all  that  they  have  said  and  done,  unequivocally 
betrays  other  motives  and  other  purposes.  And  now  that  their 
motives  in  this  their  last  and  open  act  of  hostility  to  Jubilee  College 
and  its  founder  have  been  so  indiscreetly  betrayed,  shall  their  purposes 
be  accomplished]  Shall  they  succeed  in  undermining  by  their  suspi- 
cions, and  overthrowing  by  their  machinations,  the  Avails  of  this 
citadel  of  religion  and  learning  ?  Shall  its  venerable  founder  be 
doomed  to  stand  and  see  himself  hemmed  in  on  all  sides,  one  supply 
after  another  cut  off,  until  utter  destitution  shall  compel  him  to  sur- 
render at  discretion  1 

Will  the  Church  permit  this  ?  Will  the  benevolent,  the  pious,  the 
liberal,  the  faithful  of  the  land,  look  coldly  on,  while  the  work  of 
demolition  goes  slowly  but  surely  forward  ?  This  must  not  be.  There 
is  the  same  sense  of  duty — the  same  love  of  souls — pervading  the 
breasts  and  stirring  the  hearts  of  Christians,  as  in  former  days  :  there 
is  the  same  God  in  heaven  who  ruleth  over  all,  who  epeneth  the 
hearts  of  the  liberal  and  supplieth  the  necessities  of  his  saints. 

But  have  the  abettors  of  the  pamphlet  no  ulterior  purpose  in  view  ? 
Should  they  succeed  in  creating  such  distrust  as  to  the  present  pros- 

M 


• 


39 

perity  and  future  usefulness  of  the  College,  as  to  preclude  any  further 
aid  from  the  Church,  will  they  be  satisfied  ?  Surely  not.  The  pecu- 
liar means  resorted  to  on  the  part  of  the  assailants  demonstrates  this. 
The  attack  has  been  too  partisan,  too  personal  in  its  character.  The 
history  of  the  struggle,  for  years  past,  shows  the  College  to  have  been 
the  mere  occasion,  not  the  object.  Every  question  raised  has  involved 
some  more  serious  consideration  than  the  mere  expediency  of  this  or 
that  measure,  so  far  as  the  college  was  concerned.  Their  primary 
aim  has  been  to  bring  into  contingency  Bishop  Chase's  position  in 
the  Church. 

But  these  efforts  have  all  signally  failed.  Bishop  Chase  stands 
before  the  Church,  claiming  and  enjoying  a  high  rank  among  her 
truest  sons ; — none  more  devoted  to  her  cause — none  more  self-denying 
for  her  sake,  nor  more  jealous  of  her  honor  and  her  purity. 

The  assault  is  now  to  be  conducted  under  a  different  banner.  That 
of  the  Church  refuses  to  unfold  itself  to  the  enraptured  gaze  of  men 
and  heaven's  favoring  breeze,  when  raised  as  the  signal  of  attack 
against  one  whose  whole  life  has  been  spent  beneath  its  sheltering 
folds.  Another  signal  must  be  hung  abroad  as  the  rallying  point. 
Hence  the  peculiar  characteristic  of  the  late  attack : — the  grave  must 
be  rifled  ;  its  peaceful  repose  must  be  disturbed  ;  and  the  work  "  of 
one  who  now  rests  from  his  labors"  must  be  brought  to  light,  as 
u  most  proper  for  the  present  time."  Bishop  Chase  must  now  be 
assailed  in  that  of  which  no  man  living  has  dared  openly  to  accuse 
him  ;  that  of  which,  if  in  any  respect,  he  has  whereof  to  glory, — his 
honesty  and  integrity.  And  must  Bishop  Chase  respond  to  such 
charges — charges  made  under  such  circumstances  ?  As  before  inti- 
mated, no  mere  personal  considerations  would  induce  him  to  assume 
the  character  of  respondent  to  charges  so  preferred.  But  the  position 
which  he  occupies,  in  the  providence  of  God,  not  only  in  reference  to 
the  College  but  the  Church,  compels  him  so  to  do.  Not  only  does  he 
stand  before  the  Church  as  the  founder  of  Jubilee  College,  but  before 
the  world  as  peculiarly  the  representative  of  the  Church  in  the  United 
States.  He  is  the  oldest  Bishop;  and  through  him,  not  only  in  this 
respect  but  in  others,  is  the  Church  favorably  known  abroad.  His 
position  is  not  that  of  an  isolated  individual.  Whatever  effective  blow 
reaches  Bishop  Chase,  sends  its  reverberations  throughout  the  Church. 


40 

Love  for  the  Church,  solicitude  for  her  welfare,  and  anxiety  for  the 
College  as  an  auxiliary  of  her  prosperity,  have  induced  Bishop  Chase 
to  repel  the  recent  attack  made  upon  his  honesty  and  integrity  in  the 
matter  of  Jubilee  College. 

The  position  in  which  the  recent  attack  places  Bishop  Chase  not 
only  invokes  the  aid  and  sympathy  of  the  Church,  the  support  and 
benevolence  of  his  friends,  but  the  common  justice  of  Humanity. 


/ 


NOTE. 


Since  preparing  the  foregoing  for  the  press,  the  attention  of  the 

writer  has  been  called  to  an  article  originally  published  in  the  St. 

Louis  New  Era,  and  thence  copied  into  several  eastern   papers,  in 

which  there  occurs  the  following : 

"  The  most  important  bill,  which  became  a  law,  last  week,  [by  the 
Illinois  legislature,]  was  one  '  to  incorporate  Jubilee  College.'  This 
establishment  has  been  reared  by  the  labors  ol  Bishop  Chase.  It  is 
situated  in  the  interior,  fifteen  miles  north-west  of  Peoria.  'J  he  insti- 
tution is  well  endowed,  mostly  by  donations  from  English  gentlemen. 
The  buildings  already  reared  are  comfortable,  and  accommodate  quite 
a  number  of  students,  and  the  families  of  the  teachers  and  president. 
The  main  college  edifice  is  now  soon  to  be  erected,  for  which  purpose 
there  is  an  immediate  available  fund  of  $80  000.  The  institution  is 
entirely  free  from  debt.  A  charter  was  gianted  at  the  previous  session 
of  the  legislature;  but  it  was  so  obnoxious  to  the  Bishop's  views,  as 
well  as  to  those  who  had  furnished  the  means  to  establish  the  institu- 
tion, that  it  was  not  accepted." 

The  writer  is  utterly  at  a  loss  to  conjecture  from  what  source  the 

supposition  originated  that  "there  is  an  immediate  available  fund  of 

$80,000  for  the  erection  of  the  main  college  edifice."     No  such  fund 

is  in  existence.     Bishop  Chase  has  no  funds  for  further  improvements. 

The  utmost  economy  and  frugality  is  requisite  in  order  that  the  college 

may  meet  its  current  expenses   and  not  become  embarrassed  with 

debts.     Indeed  so  far  from  Bishop  Chase's  having  an  available  fund 

of  $80,000,  or  any  sum  above  the  daily  and  actual  expenses  of  the 

institution,  the  college  is  now  incurring  a  debt  in  the  support  of  its 

beneficiaries.     Bishop  Chase  entertained  reasonable  expectations  that 

the  annual  subscriptions  to  this  fund  would   be  promptly  paid.      No 

more  worthy  object  of  charity  could  be  presented  to  the  Church  :  none 

of  so  great  promise. 


42 


The  following  exhibits  the  condition  ot  the  scholarship  fund : 
Bishop  Chase  in  account  with  Scholarship  Fund  in  Jubilee  College. 


DR. 

1001  15 


1846.  Oct.  1.  To  balance  unexpended,  and  several  subscrip- 
tions since  paid,  acknowledged  Jan.  10,  1347, 

"       "  By  expenses  of  24  beneficiaries  for  the  year  end- 

ing Oct.  1st,  1847,  amounting  to  23  1-2  entire 
years,  at  $  100  each, 

"       "  By  deficit  on  above  not  paid  in  advance,  21  1-2 

at  $  10  each, 

"       "  By  incidental  expenses  of  beneficiaries,  the  bills 

for  which  remain  unpaid, 

"       "  To  balance, 


2101  52 


CR. 

2350  00 
215  00 
537  67 

3102  67   3102  67 


The  above  exhibits  the  deficiency  ($2101  52)  which  now  exists. 
This  amount  will  be  considerably  increased  by  October  1st,  on  account 
of  additional  incidental  expenses  of  beneficiaries  for  books,  stationary, 
and  necessary  articles  of  clothing.  S.  C. 


April  1st,  1847. 


APPENDIX. 


The  charter  of  Jubilee  College  was  obtained  Jan.  22,  1847.  Soon  afterwards  it 
was  announced  in  the  following  letter  of  Bishop  Chase,  published  in  most  of  the 
periodicals  of  the  Church.  A  copy  of  the  charter  itself  was  subsequently  sent  to 
The  press ;  but  as  the  impression  was  a  limited  one,  the  same  is  now  printed  in  full. 
It  will  be  observed  that  the  charter  was  procured  in  January,  and  soon  after  pub- 
lished :  the  existence  of  the  Ann-street  pamphlet  was  unknown  to  the  Bishop  until 
the  following  March : 

A  CHARTER  GRANTED  TO  JUBILEE  COLLEGE,  ILLINOIS. 

"  This  is  the  Lord's  doing  ;  and  it  is  marvellous  in  our  eyes." 

In  the  beginning  of  this  year  of  our  Lord,  1847,  Bishop  Chase  was  at  Springfield, 
where,  the  legislature  of  Illinois  is  in  session.  Although  in  feeble  health,  he  went 
to  see  the  goveri  or  at  his  office  of  state,  and  had  the  honor  of  a  visit  from  the 
lieutenant-governor,  the  president  of  the  senate.  By  the  former  he  was  encouraged, 
by  the  latter  he  was  advised,  to  seek  the  company  of  the  committees  on  education 
and  corporations ;  these  all  waited  on  him,  out  of  respect  to  his  age  and  feebleness 
of  health. 

He  told  them  plainly  what  he  wanted,  namely,  a  charter  based  on  the  principles 
expressed  at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  the  chapel  of  Jub  lee  College,  April 
9,  a  d.  1839  ;  which  being  read  to  them,  they  granted  all  he  wished ;  and  on  the 
13th  of  January,  the  said  charter  was  passed  in  due  form  by  both  houses  of  the 
legislature  without  a  dissenting  voice  ;  and  a  few  minutes  after,  Bishop  Chase  was 
on  his  way  home.  Surely  he  might  say,  as  he  rode  swiftly  along,  '•  This  is  the 
Lord's  doing  ;  and  it  is  marvellous  in  our  eyes." 

The  propriety  of  this  train  of  thinking  appears  from  the  fact,  of  the.  legislature 
of  Illinois  having  heretofore  been  averse  to  granting  corporate  powers  to  religious 
denominations.  They  had  always  expressed  in  their  charters  to  colleges,  that 
"there  should  be  no  sectarian  religion  taught  in  them."  By  this  they  evidently 
rapposed  they  were  showing  a  "  ibertil  spirit,"  forgetting  that  where  there  is  no 
"establishments"  all  are  "sects"  in  the  eye  of  the  law  ;    and  consequently,  in 


44 

forbidding  "  sects,"  they  forbade  all  religion,  all  teaching  in  relation  to  a  Supreme 
Being,  and  thereby  caused  all  our  streams  of  learning  to  run  into  the  common  dead 
pool  of  Atheism,  illumined  by  no  rays  from  the  light  of  heaven,  and  "  curled  by  no 
breeze  "  from  the  breath  of  God. 

Not  so  the  present  legislature  of  our  prairie  state.  Praised  be  God  !  they  have 
their  eyes  open,  and  now  see  the  difference  between,  and  a  false  estimate  of  the 
liberties  of,  conscience.  Societies  as  well  as  individuals  are  free,  and  corporations 
as  well  as  societies  are  also  free,  to  teach  what  they  deem  the  truth  ;  and  they  who 
do  it  best  and  most  in  accordance  with  the  revealed  will  of  God,  of  which  the  public, 
with  the  Bible  in  their  hands  and  hearts,  will  judge,  do  promote  most  effectually 
the  public  weal. 

A  copy  of  the  charter  granted  to  Jubilee  College  cannot  now  be  given.  It  is  too 
long  for  insertion  here.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  it  contains  all  the  principles  laid 
down  in  "  the  corner-stone  "  above  alluded  to. 

Under  one  corporation  is  exercised  jurisdiction  over,  1st.  A  theological  seminary; 
2d.  A  college  proper ;  3d.  A  grammar  school  of  preparatory  learning;  4th.  A  female 
department. 

In  all  these,  appropriate  degrees  and  certificates  may  be  conferred  and  issued  for 
the  encouragement  of  the  students  and  pupils,  so  as  to  make  Jubilee  equal  to  the 
most  favored  college  and  university  in  the  United  States. 

Has  not  then  the  Bishop  and  all  his  friends  great  reason  to  say,  "  This  is  indeed 
the  Lord's  doing ;  and  it  is  indeed  marvellous  in  our  eyes."  It  shows,  at  least, 
what  was  manifest  to  all,  and  confessed  by  many  of  the  legislature  while  the  bill 
was  passing,  that  "  honesty  is  the  best  policy  ;"  and  that  cand.r  and  open  dealing 
form  the  surest  passport  to  the  hearts  of  an  enlightened  people. 

Of  all  the  achievments  of  his  whole  life,  Bishop  Chase  has  reason  to  consider 
this,  of  having  obtained  so  liberal  a  charter  to  Jubilee  College,  the  greatest.  It  is 
in  truth  a  crown,  which  God,  in  mercy  to  his  Diocese  and  the  far  west,  has  placed 
on  his  aged  head,  now  whitened  by  the  toils  of  more  than  three  score  years  and  ten. 
A  crown,  indeed,  it  is,  which,  decked  with  the  gems  of  Christian  privileges,  Wb 
now  throws  at  the  feet  of  the  cross,  as  best  of  all,  sustained  through  Christ,  in 
aiding  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church. 

The  commencement  of  Jubilee  College  will  take  place  on  the  7th  of  July,  1847. 

CHARTER  OF  JUBILEE  COLLEGE. 

Whereas  by  a  petition  of  Philander  Chase,  Bishop  of  the  Protestant  Ep;scopal 
Church  in  the  state  of  Illinois,  it  appears  that  he  hath  given  from  his  own  estate  and 
collected  from  other  private  resources,  means  to  found  and  (in  some  small  degree) 
endow  an  institution  of  religion  and  learning,  situate  in  the  county  of  Peoria  and 
6tate  of  Illinois,  caled  by  him  "  Jub.lee  College"  and  relying  on  the  great  principles 
of  liberty  secured  to  all  by  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States,  to  wor- 
ship and  promote  the  glory  of  God  agreeably  to  the  dictates  of  their  own  consciences, 
did  on  the  third  day  of  April,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  eighteen  hundred  and  thirty- 
nine,  at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  the  chapel  of  said  college,  solemnly  and 
publicly  declare  the  Christian  principles  of  the  same,  specifying  the  property  which 
he  gave,  and  also  the  conditions  on  which  he  designed  it  to  be  enjoyed  and  used  ; 
Therefore, 

Sec.  1.  Be  it  enacted  by  the  people  of  the  state  of  Illinois,  represented  in  the 
general  assembly,  That  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  said  Philander  Chase  to  nominate 
and  appoint,  in  his  last  will  and  testament  or  otherwise,  the  trustees  of  the  college 
aforesaid,  who  shall  upon  such  nomination,  together  with  a  president  as  hereinafter 
provided,  form  a  body  corporate,  and  be  known  in  law  as  the  President  and  Trus- 
tees of  Jubilee  College,  and  shall  have  power  to  make  and  use  a  common  seal ;  to 
hold  property  ;  to  sue  and  be  sued  ;  to  plea  and  be  impleaded  ;  to  confer  degrees  in 
the  liberal  arts  and  sciences  ;  and  to  do  all  other  things  for  the  encouragement  of 
religion  and  learning  which  are  lawfully  allowed  and  done  in  the  most  approved 
seminaries,  colleges  and  universities  in  the  United  States,  and  which  shall  be  con- 
sistent with  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  United  States  and  of  this  state  ;  Pro- 


45 

vided,  That  said  corporation  shall  not  be  allowed  to  hold  more  than  four  thousand 
acres  of  laud  at  any  one  time,  which  land  shall  be  immediately  adjoining  the  col- 
lege edifice,  or  within  the  county,  unless  the  said  corporation  shall  have  received 
the  excess  by  gift,  grant  or  devise,  and  in  such  case  shall  be  obliged  to  sell  the  same 
within  five  years  after  they  shall  have  acquired  such  title,  and  in  default  thereof, 
the  same  shall  revert  to  the  person  or  persons  from  whom  the  same  was  received, 
or  their  heirs. 

Sec.  2.  The  said  institution  shall  consist,  first,  of  a  theological  department ;  se- 
condly, the  college  proper ;  thirdly,  a  classical  preparatory  school  ;  and  fourthly, 
a  female  seminary ;  and  appropriate  degrees  may  be  conferred  in  the  several  de- 
partments thereof. 

Sec.  3.  The  Bishop  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Chureh  in  the  Diocese  or 
state  of  Illinois,  shall  be  ex-officio  president  of  the  said  college,  embracing  the  said 
departments  thereof,  and  he  shall  also  be  president  of  the  board  of  trustees  thereof. 
Sec.  4.  The  said  board  of  trustees  shall  consist  of  not  less  than  three  and  never 
more  than  seven  persons,  beside  the  president  or  Bishop,  and  a  majority  of  these 
shall  be  clergymen  in  full  orders ;  the  minority  may  be  deacons  or  laymen,  but  no 
layman  shall  be  appointed  a  trustee  unless  he  be  a  baptized  and  "  confirmed" 
Christian,  and  a  regular  partaker  of  the  Lord's  Supper  in  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church. 

Sec.  5.  There  may  be  a  vice-president,  provided  he  be  a  presbyter,  appointed 
by  the  Bishop,  in  which  case  he  shall  act  as  the  proxy  of  the  president  when  ab- 
sent, in  all  cases,  except  as  having  the  power  to  nominate,  and  this  shall  rest  with 
the  president  alone. 

Sec.  6.  The  president  shall  nominate  to  all  vacancies  that  may  occur  in  the 
board  of  trustees,  and  also  of  the  professors  and  teachers  and  other  officers  of  the 
said  institution,  and  the  trustees,  by  a  majority  of  votes  taken  by  ballot,  shall  ap- 
prove of  the  said  nomination  ;  and  in  case  of  their  refusing,  the  convention  of  the 
Diocese  shall  approve,  and  in  case  they  refuse  the  nomination  shall  be  null,  and  it 
shall  be  the  duty  of  the  president  to  make  out  another  nomination. 

Sec.  7.  The  trustees  shall  have  power  to  make  by-laws  for  their  own  govern- 
ment and  the  government  of  the  professors,  teachers  and  students,  and  other  per- 
sons employed  by  the  institution,  which,  when  approved  by  the  president,  and  in 
ail  respects  consistent  with  the  laws  of  the  laud,  shall  be  binding. 

Sec.  8.  The  by-laws,  while  in  manuscript,  shall  be  read  in  the  chapel  immedi- 
ately after  divine  service,  publicly  once  every  term,  and  when  in  print  it  6hall  suf- 
fice that  every  officer  and  student  shall  be  furnished  with  a  copy  thereof. 

Sec.  9.     The  office  of  trustee  shall  he  held  during  good  behavior.     A  clergyman 

shall  cease  to  be  a  trustee  when  he  is  degraded,  and  it  shall  be  unlawful  for  him  to 

act  as  such  while  in  or  under  the  sentence  of  snspension.     A  layman  shall  cease  to 

be  a  trustee  when  he,  by  the  rules  of  the  Church,  is  "  repelled"  from  the  communion. 

Sec.  10.     In  case  of  a  vacancy  in  the  episcopate  of  the  Diocese,  or  the  refusal 

of  the  Bishop,  for  the  time  being,  to  assume  or  to  discharge  the  duty  of  president  of 

sail  I  institution  as  above  specified,  the  majority  of  trustees  then  in  office  shall  elect 

by  ballot  a  clergyman  of  their  own  number,  who  shall  perform  all  the  duties  and 

acts  pertaining  and  peculiar  to  the  office  of  president  during  such  vacancy,  or  while 

the  unwillingness  of  the  Bishop  or  his  providential  imbecility  to  act  shall  continue. 

Sec.  11.     It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  trustees,  through  the  president,  to  make  a 

true  representation  every  three  years,  between  the  festival  of  the  Nativity  of  our 

Lord  and  Saviour  and  the  Epiphany,  of  the  alFairs  of  the  college  or  seminary  to  the 

next  convention  of  the  Diocese,  in  which  an  accurate  account  shall  be  rendered  of 

all  the  receipts  and  disbursements,  and  the  mode  in  which  benefactions  have  been 

used,  together  with  such  statements  concerning  the  temporal  and  spiritual   welfare 

of  the  same,  as  may  give  satisfaction  that  all  things  have  been  done  well  and  truly 

and  according  to  the  will  of  the  founder. 

Sec.  12.  The  president  shall  have  power  to  remove  all  tutors  and  other  officers 
of  the  said  institution,  except  the  theological  and  collegiate  professors  and  the  prin- 
cipal of  the  female  seminary.  The  dismissal  of  any  one  of  these  shall  require  the 
concurrence  of  the  majority  of  the  trustees. 


46 

Sec.  13.  If  at  any  time  the  convention  shall  have  reason  to  believe  that  the 
fluids  of  the  college  are  misapplied,  and  used  contrary  to  the  will  of  the  founder  and 
the  laws  of  equity  and  justice,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  them  to  appoint  a  committee 
of  three,  to  prosecute  the  supposed  delinquent  or  offending  trustee  or  trustees,  for  a 
breach  of  trust,  before  any  civil  court  having  cognizance  of  such  offences,  and  to 
obtain  judgment  and  recover  damages  for  the  said  college,  to  be  applied  for  the 
benefit  of  the  same. 

Sec.  14.  Before  the  convention  of  the  Diocese  shall  exercise  the  power  herein 
conferred,  they  shall  have  entered  a  resolution  on  the  journal  signifying  their  assent 
and  their  obligation  to  fulfil  the  duties  herein  imposed  on  them,  according  to  the 
fair  interpretation  of  the  aforesaid  expressed  design  and  will  of  the  founder  :  and  if 
they  shall  refuse  to  assume  the  obligation,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  founder,  Bishop 
Chase,  to  make  other  provision,  in  his  will  or  otherwise,  for  the  performance  of  the 
said  duties  of  the  convention,  provided  no  clause  thereof  shall  be  contrary  to  any 
part  of  this  act,  or  to  the  laws  of  the  land. 

Sec.  15.  All  nominations  and  appointments,  whether  of  trustees,  professors, 
teachers,  vice-president,  principal,  or  other  officers  of  said  college  and  institution, 
made  by  the  founder,  shall  need  no  further  ratification. 

Srcc.  16.  The  act  entitled  "  An  act  to  incorporate  Jubilee  College,"  approved 
January  23th,  1845,  is  hereby  repealed. 

Sec.  17.  This  act  is  hereby  declared  a  public  act,  and  shall  take  effect  from 
and  after  its  passage. 

Approved,  January  22,  1847. 


OPINIONS  OF  THE  PRESS. 

Extract  from  the  Protestant  Churchman,  New  York,  Feb.  13,  1847. 

Jubilee  College. — We  would  invite  the  attention  of  our  readers  to  the  commu- 
nication of  Bishop  Chase  in  relation  to  the  charter  of  Jubilee  College. 

The  facts  stated  by  him  appear  to  us  to  furnish  a  sufficient  answer  to  the  con- 
tents of  a  very  suspicious-looking  pamphlet  recently  sent  to  us,  entitled  "  A  Plain 
Statement  for  the  consideration  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  Illinois," 
<fcc.  &c  ,  by  some  anonymous  mischief-maker,  who  is  evidently  ashamed  of  his 
own  publication,  and  thrusts  at  the  object  of  his  assault  from  the  darkness  in  which 
he  is  safely  hidden  from  responsibility.  Shame  on  such  cowardice  !  If  the  author, 
or  editor  of  this  pamphlet,  is  what  he  pretends  to  be,  let  him  avow  himself  honestly, 
and  prefer  his  charges  and  insinuations  in  open  day,  and  in  his  own  name.  On 
the  whole  subject  of  the  property  of  Jubilee  College,  we  have  only  to  say,  that  when 
the  Bishop,  pointing  to  this  charter,  assures  us  that  it  belongs  to  the  Church,  and  is 
secured  to  the  Church  forever,  we  give  full  confidence  to  that  assurance.  At  the 
same  time,  we  appreciate  the  wisdom  and  firmness  of  his  course,  in  so  arranging 
the  settlement  of  the  trust,  as  to  guard  against  the  occurrence,  in  Illinois,  of  troubles 
like  those  which  drove  him  from  Ohio ! 

Extract  from  the  Calendar,  Hartford,  Gt.,  February  27,  1817. 

An  Anonymous  Pamphlet. — Mr.  Editor :  I  have  received  tlirough  the  mail  a 
pamphlet  (which  I  understand  has  been  widely  circulated)  printed  in  New  York, 
and  prepared  by  some  one  who  evidently  does  not  wish  to  be  known,  in  which  a  • 
most  violent  and  unchristian  attack  is  made  on  the  venerable  Bishop  of  Illinois. 
What  can  be  the  object  of  the  writer  I  am  at  a  loss  to  conjecture,  unless  it  is  sim- 
ply to  vent  his  spleen  at  the  good  Bishop.  If  the  design  is  to  injure  the  Bishop  in 
the  estimation  of  those  who  know  him,  the  author  may  be  assured  that  he  has  ut- 


47 

terly  failed.  An  attack  so  violent  and  unjust  is  calculated  to  excite  sympathy, 
rather  than  to  bring  odium  upon  its  victim. 

To  assail  successfully  the  honesty  and  veracity  of  one  so  well  known,  requires 
stronger  proof  than  the  mere  assertion  of  an  anonymous  writer.  Are  we  now  to 
be  told  that  Bishop  Chase  has  subjected  himself  to  no  privations  in  his  efforts  to 
plant  the  Church  in  the  west ;  that  he  has  always  been  quite  comfortable  in  his 
log  cabin  ;  and  that  all  his  long  and  painful  journeys,  by  night  and  day,  in  sum- 
mer and  wi  iter,  through  dark  forests  and  over  bleak  prairies,  are  all  nothing  more 
than  the  "  children  of  this  world  are  willing  to  hear  in  the  pursuit  of  a  favorite  ob- 
ject," as  if  there  were  no  difference  between  laboring  for  one's  self  and  toiling  for  the 
good  of  others.  Even  the  rejoicing  of  the  Bishop  in  the  prosperity  and  prospects  of 
his  infant  institution,  is  turned  against  him  by  this  anonymous  pamphleteer,  as  if 
he  were  rejoicing  in  his  own  dishonest  gains,  rather  than  in  the  success  of  plaus 
which  he  fondly  hopes  are  to  benefit  future  generations. 

Mr.  Editor,  I  do  not  propose  to  enter  into  an  examination  of  what  are  stated  to 
be  facts  in  this  pamphlet.  1  have  not  the  means  at  hand,  and  if  I  had,  I  should 
not  deem  it  necessary.  The  man  who  accuses  Bishop  Chase  of  a  wilful  suppres- 
sion of  the  truth — who  insinuates  that  the  founding  of  Jub.lec  College  is  little  more 
than  a  private  speculation  for  the  benefit  of  the  Bishop  and  his  family — who  would 
make  us  believe  that  he  keeps  the  title  to  the  property  in  his  own  hands,  in  order 
that  after  his  decease  it  may  be  claimed  and  enjoyed  by  his  heirs  at  law, — has  no 
right  to  complain  if  we  receive  his  statements  with  some  distrust.  Of  what  value 
is  character,  if  we  are  to  believe  that,  after  a  long  life  of  self-denial  and  integrity, 
a  man  will  turn  villain  for  the  sake  of  enriching  his  heirs  ?  Are  we  to  have  no  faith 
in  human  virtue — no  faith  even  in  human  consistency  ?  Does  Bishop  Chase  set  so 
low  a  value  upon  a  good  name,  as  to  leave  his  children  an  inheritance  of  infamy, 
for  the  sake  of  leaving  them  an  inheritance  in  land  ?  The  idea  is  too  preposterous 
to  be  indulged  for  a  moment. 

\\  by  these  attacks  on  Bishop  Chase  ?  He  is  now  an  infirm  old  man,  and  must, 
in  the  natural  course  of  events,  soon  be  called  away  to  his  reward.  No  one  who 
knows  him,  no  one  who  is  acquainted  with  all  the  circumstances  of  his  life,  will 
believe  him  dishonest,  or  capable  of  doing  intentional  wrong.  If  he  sometimes  errs 
in  judgment — if  he  is  sometimes  impatient  under  contradiction — cannot  we  bear 
with  him  for  the  sake  of  what  he  has  been,  for  the  sake  of  what  he  has  done  for 
the  Church?  Let  him  descend  to  the  grave  in  peace  ;  he  will  not  be  forgotten : 
and,  in  spite  of  every  attempt  to  defame  his  character,  his  memory  will  be  cherished 
by  thousands  who  have  been  blessed  by  his  self-denying  labors.  N. 

Extract  from  the  Christian  Wihios  ami  Chinch  Advocate,  Boston, March  5.  1847, 

Bisnor  Citase. — Some  few  weeks  since,  we  received  a  pamphlet  with  the  follow- 
ing title:  "A  plain  Statement  for  the  Consideration  of  the  Friends  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  in  the  Diocese  of  Illinois,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Philander  Chase,  D.  D., 
Bishop."  As  this  pamphlet  was  published  anonymously,  we  did  not  deem  it  proper 
to  notice  its  contents.  The  object  of  the  writer  was  to  show,  that  though  large 
nuns  have  been  contributed  for  "Jubilee  College,**  the  donors  had  do  security  that 
the  college  which  they  had  aided  by  their  liberal  donations,  would  be  a  Church  fn- 
stitution,  under  the  control  of  the  D.ocese  of  Illinois. 

Bishop  <  base,  who  is  too  much  of  a  veteran  to  allow  himself  to  be  seriously  an- 
noyed by  such  cowardly  threats,  from  enemies,  who  dare  not  put  their  name:'  to 
thrir  allegations,  has  had  the  happiness  of  effectually  silencing  this  effort  to  injure 
bis  influence  and  his  institution,  by  showing  to  the  Church,  that  he  is  Dot  only  wil- 
ling, but  desirous,  to  have  Jubilee  College  incorporated,  so  thai  it  might  be  secured 
to  the  Church  as  a  Church  institution.  We  published  a  letter  from  a  correspondent 
in  Illinois  a  lew  weeks  since,  giving  the  gratifying  intelligence  that  the  Bishop  had 
been  successful,  and  that  a  charter  had  been  granted. 


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